Tim Gracyk | "Private Tommy Atkins" sung by John Terrell = words by Henry Hamilton, music by S. Potter MUSIC HALL @timgracyk | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
"Private Tommy Atkins"

Sung by John Terrell

Words by Henry Hamilton

Music by S. Potter

Oh, we take him from the city or the plough.
And we drill him and we dress him up so neat.
We teach him to uphold his manly brow and
how to walk and where to put his feet.

It doesn't matter who he was before or
what his parents fancied for his name.
Once he's pocketed the shilling, and a uniform
he's filling, we call him Tommy Atkins all the same.

Oh, Tommy, Tommy Atkins,
you're a good one, heart and hand.
You're a credit to your calling
and to all your native land.

May your luck be never failing.
May your love be ever true!
God bless you, Tommy Atkins!
Here's your country's love to you!

In time of peace he hears the bugle call in
barracks, from "Revally" to "Lights Out."
And if "sentry-go" and "pipe-clay" ever pall,
there's always plenty more of work about.

On leave, nights, you meet him in the street as
happy as a schoolboy and as gay. Then back he
goes to duty, all for England, home and beauty,
and the noble sum of thirteen pence a day.

The name Tommy Atkins means a British soldier.

In 1890 Kipling wrote a poem titled “Tommy,” which is about a tendency to treat soldiers as either heroes when fighting far away or blackguards when at home.

"Private Tommy Atkins" was a popular song featured in the 1893 musical comedy A Gaiety Girl.

It was a big hit in London.