Historic Sheet Music Collection
Document Type
Score
Publication Date
1915
Lyrics
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 in sorrow In her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thro' her tears:
CHORUS
"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 soldier,
To shoot some other mother's boy? Let
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!
Recommended Citation
Piantadosi, Al, "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier" (1915). Historic Sheet Music Collection. 677.
https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sheetmusic/677
The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.
Comments
A Mother's Plea for Peace
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
lyrics by Alfred Bryan Music by Al. Plantadosi
New York : L. Feist
*last few pages are missing from PDF
Some of these resources may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of the attitudes of the time. The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the libraries or the institution.