Henry's Songbook

I didn't raise my son to be a soldier
I raised him up to be my pride and joy
Why should he put a musket to his shoulder
To kill 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

Repeat 1

(as sung by Hamish Imlach)

[1964:] In school we demonstrated our contempt [...]. But the main object of our offensive was the O.T.C. We pretended that we were inspired by high motives of pacifism. [...] When, route-marching, we were exhorted to sing, we ignored the ballads sanctified by the infantry of the World War and loped along out of step droning the American ditty:

'I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
I brought him up to be my pride and joy
Who dares to put a rifle on his shoulder
To shoot another mother's darling boy?'

(Evelyn Waugh, A Little Learning 131f.)

[1985:] People in England who opposed the Boer War were called 'Little Englanders' by the press (because they preferred a 'Little England' to a 'Great Britain'). This was reconstructed from a fragment of one of their songs. (Notes Hamish Imlach, 'Sonny's Dream')

[1986:] A song from World War I. I learned it when my own son was about eighteen. (Notes Guy Carawan, 'The Land Knows You're There')

[1990:] [Before 1917,] American commercial songs were sung to and by soldiers in Europe, including even I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier (which was scorned by Theodore Roosevelt and later changed to I'm Glad ...) (Murdoch, Fighting Songs 76)