'I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier' WWI Moms' anti-war song ->

[jean]

a Vietnam Vet called in to the Ed Schultz show today talking about this song - he said if he could get all mothers in the country singing it - it could rally the country. He mentioned the song outraged the government, in one source it mentioned Roosevelt was offended by and commented on the song - here's some info on it)


http://creativefolk.com/lyrics.html#anchor272658

I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier
Lyrics: Alfred Bryan 1915 Tune: Al Piantadosi

This was one of the most popular songs of 1915, as Americans resisted involvement in a European war. The original sheet music calls it "a mother's plea for peace."

It's appropriate for in April of 1915, for the first time ever, women of different nations met at a time of war to express opposition and consider ways of ending the conflict. The International Congress of Women, or the Hague Congress, was the offspring of the International Suffrage Alliance, and ultimately led to the formation of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919. (WILPF)

Sheet music for this song is available (free online) at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/a/a06/a0665/



Ten million soldiers to the war have gone
Who may never return again
Ten million mothers' hearts may break
For the ones who died in vain
Head bowed down in sorrow through the lonely years
I heard a mother murmur through her tears:
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles
It's time to lay the the swords and guns away
There'd be no war today, if mothers all would say
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."
What victory can calm a mother's heart
When she thinks of her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer in the years to be
"Remember that my boy belongs to me!"



http://www.labbs.org.uk/cgi-bin/copyright.pl?i

I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier
Composed by Alfred Bryan/ Al Piantadosi arranged by Tom Gentry Published by OSL 1943 Copyright owner is Leo Feist Inc

[TlalocW]

1. I have this song on tape

Recorded it off Dr. Demento when I was in high school.

TlalocW

[blondeatlast]

2. "Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,

To shoot some other mother's darling boy?"

I've only read the lyrics and I'm tearing up as a mom.

How timeless the sentiment and the lyrics.

[Sean Reynolds]

3. WWI was another sham war.

That caused more trouble than it fixed.