I'm a young married man and I'm tired of life
For years I've been married to a poor sickly wife
She does nothin' all day but to sit there and sigh
Wishin' and prayin' that she-ee could die

A friend from the village was talkin' one day
I told him me wife was a-fadin' away
He afterwards told me that she would get strong
If I got a bottle from old Doctor John

Well I bought her one bottle to give her good cheer
The way that she drank it you'd swear it was beer
I got her a second, and it went the same
I think she's got cod liver oil on the brain

Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear doctor John
Your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong
I'm afraid of me life I'll go down in the soil
If me wife don't stop drinkin' your cod liver oil

Well it gave her good cheer and of that there's no doubt
Each week she got better and then she got stout
And as she got fatter of course she got strong
I think there's a devil in old Doctor John

There's bottles and bottles all over the house
But as she got strong I'm as quiet as a mouse
I've got to the stage if the kettle should boil
I'd swear it was singing of cod liver oil