AKA | A mother’s plea for peace I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier |
First Published | 1915 |
Lyrics | Arthur Bryan | Music | Al. Piantadosi | Roud | V53403 |
Music Hall performers | Gene Greene, 1910s USA Peerless Quartet, 1910s USA |
Folk performances | Hamish Imlach 1985 Sandra Kerr, ?? |
1916 version Ten million soldiers to the war have gone, Who may never return again. Ten million mothers' hearts must break For the ones who died in vain. Head bowed down in sorrow In her lonely years, I heard a mother murmur thru' 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 sword and gun 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 cheer a mother's heart, When she looks at 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! Hamish Imlach version with lyrics by Ewan McVicar. I didn't raise my son to be a soldier I brought him up to be my pride and joy Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder To shoot another mother's darling boy Why should he fight in someone else's quarrels It's time to throw the sword and gun away There would be no war today If the nations all would say No I didn't raise my son to be a soldier I didn't raise my son to be a soldier To go fighting in some far-off foreign land He may get killed before he's any older For a cause that he will never understand Why should he fight another rich man's battle While they stay at home and while their time away Let those with most to lose Fight each other if they choose For I didn't raise my son to be a soldier I didn't raise my son to be a soldier To go fighting heathens round the Horn If God required to prove that boys are bolder They'd have uniforms and guns when they were born Why should we have wars about religion When Jesus came to teach us not to kill Do Zulus and Hindoos Not have the right to choose For I didn't raise my son to be a soldier I didn't raise my son to be a soldier I raised him up to be a gentleman To find a sweet young girl and love and hold her Bring me some grandchildren when they can Why can't we decide that the Empire Is just as large as it requires to be And I'd rather lose it all Than to see my laddie fall For I didn't raise my son to be a soldier As I sing it: I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier I raised him up to be my pride and joy Why should he put a rifle to his shoulder To kill some other mothers darling boy Let nations arbitrate their future troubles it’s time to throw the sword and gun away There would be no war today If mothers all would say I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier To go fighting in some far off foreign land He may get killed before he’s any older For a cause that he may never understand Why should he fight another rich man’s battle While they stay at home and stow their gold away let those with wealth to lose Fight each other if they choose I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier To kill other sons and daughters in a war If God required to prove that boys are bolder They’d have uniforms and guns when they are born They pretend we have these wars about religion When Jesus came to teach us not to kill Christians Muslims or Hindus Those boys have all got mothers too I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier I raised him up to be a gentle man to find someone to love and to hold them and bring me some grandchildren if they want why can’t we all agree that empires Should be relics of our ancient history let’s just forget them all Let’s not see our children fall I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier
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.
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 émigrés. It was most associated with the singing of Gene Green (sometimes Greene) a vaudeville performer based in Chicago, which had a large German – 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.
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!
- Sources:
- 1916 words and music Lester Levy collection
- 1985 (Hamish Imlach) version from a posting by Ewan McVicar on Mudcat
- Kilgarriff, Sing us …
Peerless Quartet’s recording:
The excellent Sandra Kerr sings something close to Hamish Imlach’s version:
Last Updated on May 30, 2021 by John Baxter | Published: December 7, 2019