M’Sweeny Promoted

McSweeny is lieutenant now with gew-gaws on his chest,

An’ everyone is satisfied includin’ Mac himself;

But when they talked promotions they near had the feller’s goat

Because they whispered slyly, “Mac was goin’ on the shelf.”

He was sad to lose his musket for he loves it, every inch,

He kept it bright an’ shiny like a star up in the sky;

And when he turned it over he was sorry, that’s a cinch –

“These side-arms ain’t for scrappin’,” says McSweeny, with a sigh.

McSweeny is lieutenant now, an’ walks in leather “puts”,

He carries of a swagger stick, an’ handles it with class;

An’ tho’ he walks ram-roddy he is one that never struts,

An’ has an eye for beauty when he meets a country lass.

Mac was glad to be promoted, there was joy within his eye,

He done a little jiggin’ when the Cap’n warn’t around;

But he figgered later in the clothes he’d get to buy,

He wasn’t quite so antic’, an’ his feet staid on the ground.

MacSweeny’s been promoted, he has gone beyond the ranks,

He carries off his honors as a reg’lar soldier should;

He’s got to stand on dignity, an’ cut his Irish pranks,

An’ spend his golden future now a-lookin’ wise and good.

He’s given up his musket which occasion made him sad,

For Mac he loved the manual an’ was a crackerjack;

“I ‘shoulder arms’ when sleepin’, it’s my only fun, bedad!

These side arms ain’t for scrappin’, they’re for social use,” says Mac.

Now Mac has been promoted, an’ the girls are all upset,

They’re makin’ eyes an’ smilin’ when he hap’ns to be round;

And Mac he likes “attention” from the angel ones, you bet,

An’ has hard work a-keepin’ of his heels upon the ground.

But Mac is only human, an’ a soldier ev’ry inch,

An’ soldiers love the ladies, when they’s nothing else to do;

But corporal – or sergeant, or lieutenant, it’s a cinch,

Ol’ Mac will do his duty ‘neath the bars of red and blue.

Feb. 15, 1918