Oh Marlborough's gone to war, Sir,
With a drum, with a drum and fife, Sir,
Oh, Marlborough's gone to war, Sir,
With twenty thousand men,
Thousand men, thousand men,
With twenty thousand men.

He's gone to war at Christmas,
With a drum, with a drum and fife, Sir,
He's gone to war at Christmas,
With twenty thousand men (etc)

He's gone to war at Easter,
With a drum, with a drum and fife, Sir,
He's gone to war at Easter,
With twenty thousand men (etc)

You'd better run away, Sir,
With a drum, with a drum and fife, Sir,
You'd better run away, Sir,
From Marlborough's fighting, (etc)

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Singing Together, Spring 1969, BBC Publications

Notes:
This is taken from Thirty More Folk Settings by Mendoza and Rimmer.
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Whether this song actually refers to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough or not, others will have to decide. Preliminary googling has not shown, however, that there were any particularly significant battle he fought around Christmas. The battle of Ramilles was in May 1706 when Easter was, I am told, 4th April 1706, but given the way the calendar has moved around, and liberal interpretation, that might be considered close enough to Easter.

Even if the song does refer to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, of course, that cannot be taken as evidence that the song is anything like that old!

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