Am 
It was a grand upstanding bantam cock, 
Am 
So brisk and stiff and spry, 
G             F             Em 
With springy step and jaunty plume 
E                            Am 
And a purposeful look in his eye, 
 E                           Am 
In his little black blinking eye, he had. 

Am 
I took him to the coop and introduced him 
Am 
To my seventeen wide-eyed hens. 
G          F               Em 
He tupped and he tupped as a hero tups 
E                             Am 
And he bowed from the waist to them all, and then 
E                               Am 
He upped and he tupped 'em all again, he did. 

Am 
And then upon the peace of me ducks and me geese 
Am 
He rudely did intrude. 
G             F                Em 
With glazed emyes and open mouths 
E                          Am 
They bore it all with fortitude 
E                           Am 
And a little bit of gratitude, they did. 

Am 
He jumped my giggling guinea fowl 
Am 
And forced his attentions upon 
G           F                Em 
My twenty hysterical turkeys and 
E                   Am 
A visiting migrant swan. 
E                       Am 
But the bantam thundered on, he did. 

Am 
He ravished my fan-tailed pigeons and 
Am 
Me lily-white columbines, 
G              F                   Em 
And while I was locking up the budgerigar 
E                          Am 
He jumped my parrot from behind; 
E                              Am 
She was sitting on me shoulder at the time. 

Am 
And all of a sudden with a gasp and a gulp 
Am 
He clapped his hands to his head, 
G                F                      EM 
Fell flat on his back with his toes in the air. 
E                   Am 
My bantam cock lay dead 
E                              Am 
And the vultures circled overhead, they did. 

Am 
What a champion brute; what a noble cock; 
Am 
What a way to live and to die. 
G                F                     Em 
I was diggin' him a grave to save his bones 
E                              Am 
From the hungry buzzards in the sky 
E                                Am 
When the bantam opened up a sly little eye. 

Am 
He gave me a grin and a terrible wink 
Am 
The way that roosters do. 
G            F                            Em 
He said, 'You see them big daft buggers up there? 
E                              Am 
They'll be down in a minute or two; 
E                              Am  
They'll be down in a minute or two.'