When I was young I didn't have too many little friends, Only one, and she was three score years and ten, A nanny with a most peculiar pedigree, A former felon, but she was always good to me. And when they came for her she shimmied down the drain, Made off with Mummy's jewels, we'll not see her again. She taught me how to forge a fiver from a stolen plate, How to do my time if made a guest of the State, She gave me lessons on the blowing of a strongroom door, Too much "jelly" and the nursery went through the floor. I learnt the rackets and the value of a good disguise, How to case a joint and how to fence the merchandise, And now I'm older and they ask me what I want to be, A life of crime is sure to be the life for me.