The King’s Shilling is een prachtig lied van de Schotse muzikant & songwriter Ian Sinclair (1940-2023) uit 1979, dat hier uitstekend wordt gezongen door de Ierse singer/songwriter Karan Casey en haar Amerikaanse collega James Taylor.

Ze deden dat tijdens de Transatlantic Sessions in 2009. Het nummer komt van Casey’s album The Wind Begins To Sing uit 2001.

The King’s Shilling
Oh my love has left me
with bairnes twa.
And that’s the last of him
I ever saw.
He’s joined the army,
and marched to war.
He took the shilling.
He took the shilling
and he’s off to war.

Come laddies come,
hear the cannons roar.
Take the King’s shilling
and you’re off to war.

Well did he look
as he marched along.
With his kilt and sporran
and his musket gun.
And the ladies tipped him
as he marched along.
He sailed out by,
he sailed out by
the Broomielaw.

The pipes did play
as he marched along.
And the soldiers
sang out a battle song.
“March on, march on,”
cried the Captain gay.
For King and country,
for King and country,
we will fight today.

Come laddies come,
hear the cannons roar.
Take the King’s shilling
and we’re off to war.

The battle rattled
to the sound of guns.
And the bayonets flashed
in the morning sun.
The drums did beat
and the cannons roared.
And the shilling didn’t seem.
Oh the shilling didn’t seem
much worth the war

Well the men they fought
and the men did fall.
Cut down by bayonets
and musket ball.
And many of these
brave young men.
Would never fight for,
would never fight for
the King again.

Come laddies come,
hear the cannons roar.
Take the King’s shilling
and you’ll die in war.