Tom, the piper's son seems to have had several adventures in the
nursery rhyme canon. This familiar rhyme, with its march-like tune, has a consistent first verse, but I haven't been able to pin down any subsequent verses as 'right'. The tune was used in the theme to
ITV's series '
Sharpe', which also added its own verses, with more explicit references to the
Napoleonic Wars. I believe the poem to be older than that.
Tom, he was a piper's son,
He learned to play when he was young.
But all the tune that he could play
Was 'Over the Hills and Far Away'.
Over the hills and a great way off,
The wind shall blow my top-knot off.