"On the Road to Mandalay" (1908)
Words by Rudyard Kipling
Music by Oley Speaks, (1874-1948)

1.
By the old Moulmein Pagoda
lookin' eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin'
and I know she thinks of me.
For the wind is in the palmtrees,
and the temple bells they say,
"Come you back, you British soldier,
Come you back to Mandalay,"
Come you back to Mandalay.

Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay.
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin'
from Rangoon to Mandalay?

[Chorus]
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin' fishes play,
and the dawn comes up like thunder
out of China 'crost the bay.

2.
'er peticoat was yaller,
an' 'er little cap was green,
An' 'er name was Supiyawlat,
'jes the same a Theebaw's queen,
An' I seed her first a smokin'
of a whackin' white cheroot,
An' a waistin' Christian kisses
on a 'eathen idol's foot,
On a 'eathen idol's foot.
Bloomin' idol made of mud,
What they called the great Gawd Budd,
Plucky lot she cared for idols
when I kissed her where she stood.

[Repeat Chorus]

3.
Ship me somewheres east of Suez
where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments,
An' a man can raise a thirst,
For the temple bells are callin'
And it's there that I would be,
By the old Moumein Pagoda
lookin' lazy at the sea,
lookin' lazy at the sea.
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay.
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin'
from Rangoon to Mandalay?

[Repeat Chorus]