Read "Policeman G" by Andrew Barton Paterson online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Air: "Widow McGrath"
To Policeman G. the Inspector said: / "When you pass the 'shops' you must turn your head; / If you took a wager, that would be a sin; / So you'll earn no stripes if you run them in. " / Mush-a-ring-tiy-ah, / Fol-de-diddle-doh!
To the House Committee, the Inspector said: / "Tis a terrible thing how the gamblers spread, / For they bet on the Steeple, and they bet on the Cup, / And the magistrates won't lock them up. " / Mush-a-ring-tiy-ah, / Fol-de-diddle-doh!
But Policeman G., as he walks his beat, / Where the gamblers are -- up and down the street -- / Says he: "What's the use to be talkin' rot / If they'd make me a sergeant, I could cop the lot! " / With my ring-tiy-ah, / Fol-de-diddle-doh!
-"But, bedad if you start to suppress the 'shop', / Then the divil only knows where you're going to stop; / For the rich and the poor, they would raise a din, / If at Randwick I ran fifty thousand in. " / Mush-a-ring-tiy-ah, / Fol-de-diddle-doh!
-"Though ye must not box -- nor shpit -- nor bet, / I'll find my way out to Randwick yet; / For I'm shtandin' a pound -- and it's no disgrace / On Paddy Nolan's horse -- for the Steeplechase! " / Mush-a-ring-tiy-ah, / Fol-de-diddle-doh!
The Evening News, 9 September 1903