I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier

DESCRIPTION: "Ten million soldiers to the war have gone... Head bowed down in sorrow
In her 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." Victory will not console her loss
AUTHOR: Words: Arthur Bryan / Music: Al Piantadosi (source: FolkSongAndMusicHall)
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (FolkSongAndMusicHall)
KEYWORDS: mother soldier separation death army
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Pegler-SoldiersSongsAndSlangoftheGreatWar, pp. 265-266, "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" (1 text)
Silverman-BalladsAndSongsOfWWI, pp. 43-45, "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier"
Roud #V53403
RECORDINGS:
Morton Harvey, "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" (Victor 17716, 1915)
NOTES [49 words]: Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 308, estimates that this was the third most popular song in America in 1915, peaking at #1 in March 1915 (#1 for the year being "A Little Bit of Heaven"). - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: PSoS265

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