I DIDN’T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER

Lyrics: Alfred Bryan, 1915

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone who may never return again
Ten million mother’s hearts must break for the ones who died in vain
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
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