{"id":96,"date":"2019-12-07T11:38:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T11:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2021-05-30T19:56:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T19:56:44","slug":"i-didnt-raise-my-boy-to-be-a-soldier","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/i-didnt-raise-my-boy-to-be-a-soldier\/","title":{"rendered":"I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>A mother\u2019s plea for peace
I didn\u2019t raise my son to be a soldier <\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1915<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Arthur Bryan<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Al. Piantadosi<\/td>Roud<\/strong> <\/td>V53403<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Gene Greene, 1910s USA
Peerless Quartet, 1910s USA<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Hamish Imlach 1985
Sandra Kerr, ??<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
1916 version<\/strong>\nTen million soldiers to the war have gone,\nWho may never return again.\nTen million mothers' hearts must break\nFor the ones who died in vain.\nHead bowed down in sorrow\nIn her lonely years,\nI heard a mother murmur thru' her tears:\n\nI didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,\nI brought him up to be my pride and joy.\nWho dares to place a musket on his shoulder,\nTo shoot some other mother's darling boy?\nLet nations arbitrate their future troubles,\nIt's time to lay the sword and gun away.\nThere'd be no war today,\nIf mothers all would say,\n\"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.\"\n<\/em>\nWhat victory can cheer a mother's heart,\nWhen she looks at her blighted home?\nWhat victory can bring her back\nAll she cared to call her own?\nLet each mother answer\nIn the years to be,\nRemember that my boy belongs to me!\n\nHamish Imlach version with lyrics by Ewan McVicar. <\/strong>\nI \u00a0didn't raise my son to be a soldier\nI brought him up to be my pride and joy\nWho dares to put a musket on his shoulder\nTo shoot another mother's darling boy\nWhy should he fight in someone else's quarrels\nIt's time to throw the sword and gun away\nThere would be no war today\nIf the nations all would say\nNo I didn't raise my son to be a soldier\n\nI didn't raise my son to be a soldier\nTo go fighting in some far-off foreign land\nHe may get killed before he's any older\nFor a cause that he will never understand\nWhy should he fight another rich man's battle\nWhile they stay at home and while their time away\nLet those with most to lose\nFight each other if they choose\nFor I didn't raise my son to be a soldier\n\nI didn't raise my son to be a soldier\nTo go fighting heathens round the Horn\nIf God required to prove that boys are bolder\nThey'd have uniforms and guns when they were born\nWhy should we have wars about religion\nWhen Jesus came to teach us not to kill\nDo Zulus and Hindoos\nNot have the right to choose\nFor I didn't raise my son to be a soldier\n\nI didn't raise my son to be a soldier\nI raised him up to be a gentleman\nTo find a sweet young girl and love and hold her\nBring me some grandchildren when they can\nWhy can't we decide that the Empire\nIs just as large as it requires to be\nAnd I'd rather lose it all\nThan to see my laddie fall\nFor I didn't raise my son to be a soldier\n\nAs I sing it:<\/strong>\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n I raised him up to be my pride and joy\n Why should he put a rifle to his shoulder\n To kill some other mothers darling boy\n Let nations arbitrate their future troubles\n it\u2019s time to throw the sword and gun away\n There would be no war today\n If mothers all would say\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n To go fighting in some far off foreign land\n He may get killed before he\u2019s any older\n For a cause that he may never understand\n Why should he fight another rich man\u2019s battle\n While they stay at home and stow their gold away\n let those with wealth to lose\n Fight each other if they choose\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n To kill other sons and daughters in a war\n If God required to prove that boys are bolder\n They\u2019d have uniforms and guns when they are born\n They pretend we have these wars about religion\n When Jesus came to teach us not to kill\n Christians Muslims or Hindus\n Those boys have all got mothers too\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n I raised him up to be a gentle man\n to find someone to love and to hold them\n and bring me some grandchildren if they want\n why can\u2019t we all agree that empires\n Should be relics of our ancient history\n let\u2019s just forget them all\n Let\u2019s not see our children fall\n I didn\u2019t raise my boy to be a soldier\n \n \u00a0\n        \u00a0     <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Hamish Imlach suggested that his version was an adaption of a British anti-war song from the time of the Boer War. This may be true, but I haven’t found any evidence as yet, and all the Music Hall sources are adamant that it was written around the time of the First World War by Bryan and Piantodosi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So this appears to be an American vaudeville song, until someone shows me different! It was a big hit in 1916 in America reflecting a strong current of isolationist anti-war opinion, partly from the American South, and partly from a large population of Republican Irish and German \u00e9migr\u00e9s. It was most associated with the singing of Gene Green (sometimes Greene) a vaudeville performer based in Chicago, which had a large German \u2013 American population. Gene Greene did tour Europe in the period leading up to the First World War, but I can’t establish whether this song was sung by him or anyone else on the British music hall stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Roosevelt is said to have scoffed that you might as well say “I didn’t raise my girl to be a mother”, which rather misses the point of this attempt at a feminist anti-war song. (I say “attempt” at a feminist anti-war song as it was mostly sung and written by men, as far as I can see, and I’m not sure that it should just be mothers that oppose War.) I’ve recently discovered that Sandra Kerr sings a version of this song – see below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n