The items in the Digital Collections of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library contain materials which represent or depict sensitive topics or were written from perspectives using outdated or biased language. The Library condemns discrimination and hatred on any grounds. As a research library that supports the mission and values of this land grant institution, it is incumbent upon the University Library to preserve, describe, and provide access to materials to accurately document our past, support learning about it, and effect change in the present. In accordance with the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read statement, we do not censor our materials or prevent patrons from accessing them.
It’s Time for Every Boy to be a Soldier Verse: Most ev’ry fellow has a sweetheart Some little girl with eyes of blue My daddy also had a sweetheart And he fought to win her too There’ll come a day when we must pay the price of love and duty Be there staunch and true Refrain: It’s time for ev’ry boy to be a soldier To put his strength and courage to the test It’s time to place a musket on his shoulder And wrap the Stars and Stripes around his breast It’s time to shout those noble words of Lincoln And stand up for the land that gave you birth “That the nation of the people by the people for the people Shall not perish from the earth.” Verse: Boys of America get ready Your mother land is calling you Boys of America be steady For the Old Red White and Blue When Yankee Doodle comes to town upon his little pony Be there staunch and true Refrain
Repository
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Rights
No Copyright - United States
Original Location
Series 2, Box 15, Folder 10
Record Series 12/9/96
Local Identifier
2014_12996_285
Collection Title
James Edward Myers Sheet Music Collection, 1836-1986
Alfred Bryan's lyrics are in part a late rebuttal to the text he himself had penned for the 1915 neutrality hit "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier”; Tierney's upbeat, straightforward music similarly repudiates the sentimental style of Piantadosi's earlier ballad. Their song never quite attained the success that attended an earlier, rival rebuttal, "America, Here's My Boy"; but since it appeared just a month after the United States had declared war, it also functioned very successfully as a recruiting song, remaining steadily popular through the war years and beyond.
Historical Note
This is the first variant of the third printing. All the printings are distinguished by the lists of titles on the back covers; in addition, the fourth includes photographs in the cover insets, rather than the drawings used in previous printings. Variants within a printing are distinguished by the music advertised on the back covers and and ordered by the associated copyright dates. This printing postdates June 6, 1917, based on the back cover.
Like Andrew Sterling's earlier "America, Here's My Boy," Bryan's lyrics for the refrain closely parallel those of "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier": the structure and rhyme scheme is the same, the first and third lines closely paraphrase the earlier song, and the break in the penultimate line recalls the earlier internal rhyme. However, unlike Sterling, Bryan made no attempt to preserve either the structure of the verse nor the difference between narrative and voice that characterised the original.
The artist, LPN, has not yet been identified. The cover gives Lincoln and Wilson equal prominence, but the lyrics conclude with a slightly modified quotation from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, whereas Wilson is neither mentioned nor quoted.
Musical Note
This lively, largely conventional march song contains faint hints of a ballad: the breaks in the penultimate line and the optional high notes at the end. The verse quotes "Yankee Doodle" in the penultimate line of music, confirming the quotation in the lyrics of the second verse.
Subject - Topic
Marches (Voice with piano)
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) -- Pictorial works.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Pictorial works.
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 -- Pictorial works.
Recruiting and enlistment -- Songs and music.
Soldiers -- United States -- Songs and music.
Patriotic music -- United States.
Popular music -- United States -- 1911-1920.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Songs and music
Lyrics
[refrain 2]
[verse 2] Boys of America get ready / Your motherland is calling you / Boys of America be steady / For the Old Red White and Blue / When Yankee Doodle comes to town upon his little pony / Be there staunch and true
[refrain 1] It's time for ev'ry boy to be a soldier / To put his strength and courage to the test / It's time to place a musket on his shoulder / And wrap the Stars and Stripes around his breast / It's time to shout those noble words of Lincoln / And stand up for the land that gave you birth / "That the nation of the people by the people for the people / Shall not perish from the earth"
[Verse 1] Most ev'ry fellow has a sweetheart / Some little girl with eyes of blue / My daddy also had a sweetheart / And he fought to win her too / There'll come a day when we must pay the price of love and duty / Be there staunch and true
Musical Genre
March song
Repository
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Rights
No Copyright - United States
Artist
LPN
Cover Description
BR, above publisher: 5
Abstractly drawn soldier standing at rest, holding a rifle, flanked by inset drawings of Lincoln, left, and Wilson, right; behind is a stylised image of the United States Capitol building, trees behind, cavalry in silhouette passing in front. Black and red on white; signed BR.
Alfred Bryan's lyrics are in part a late rebuttal to the text he himself had penned for the 1915 neutrality hit "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier”; Tierney's upbeat, straightforward music similarly repudiates the sentimental style of Piantadosi's earlier ballad. Their song never quite attained the success that attended an earlier, rival rebuttal, "America, Here's My Boy"; but since it appeared just a month after the United States had declared war, it also functioned very successfully as a recruiting song, remaining steadily popular through the war years and beyond.
Historical Note
This is the first variant of the third printing. All the printings are distinguished by the lists of titles on the back covers; in addition, the fourth includes photographs in the cover insets, rather than the drawings used in previous printings. Variants within a printing are distinguished by the music advertised on the back covers and and ordered by the associated copyright dates. This printing postdates June 6, 1917, based on the back cover.
Like Andrew Sterling's earlier "America, Here's My Boy," Bryan's lyrics for the refrain closely parallel those of "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier": the structure and rhyme scheme is the same, the first and third lines closely paraphrase the earlier song, and the break in the penultimate line recalls the earlier internal rhyme. However, unlike Sterling, Bryan made no attempt to preserve either the structure of the verse nor the difference between narrative and voice that characterised the original.
The artist, LPN, has not yet been identified. The cover gives Lincoln and Wilson equal prominence, but the lyrics conclude with a slightly modified quotation from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, whereas Wilson is neither mentioned nor quoted.
Musical Note
This lively, largely conventional march song contains faint hints of a ballad: the breaks in the penultimate line and the optional high notes at the end. The verse quotes "Yankee Doodle" in the penultimate line of music, confirming the quotation in the lyrics of the second verse.
Subject - Topic
Marches (Voice with piano)
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) -- Pictorial works.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Pictorial works.
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 -- Pictorial works.
Recruiting and enlistment -- Songs and music.
Soldiers -- United States -- Songs and music.
Patriotic music -- United States.
Popular music -- United States -- 1911-1920.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Songs and music
Lyrics
[refrain 2]
[verse 2] Boys of America get ready / Your motherland is calling you / Boys of America be steady / For the Old Red White and Blue / When Yankee Doodle comes to town upon his little pony / Be there staunch and true
[refrain 1] It's time for ev'ry boy to be a soldier / To put his strength and courage to the test / It's time to place a musket on his shoulder / And wrap the Stars and Stripes around his breast / It's time to shout those noble words of Lincoln / And stand up for the land that gave you birth / "That the nation of the people by the people for the people / Shall not perish from the earth"
[Verse 1] Most ev'ry fellow has a sweetheart / Some little girl with eyes of blue / My daddy also had a sweetheart / And he fought to win her too / There'll come a day when we must pay the price of love and duty / Be there staunch and true
Musical Genre
March song
Repository
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Rights
No Copyright - United States
Artist
LPN
Cover Description
BR, above publisher: 5
Abstractly drawn soldier standing at rest, holding a rifle, flanked by inset drawings of Lincoln, left, and Wilson, right; behind is a stylised image of the United States Capitol building, trees behind, cavalry in silhouette passing in front. Black and red on white; signed BR.