<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" sung by the Peerless Quartet in late 1914 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" is an American anti-war song that was influential within the pacifist movement that existed in the United States before it entered World War I. It is one of the first anti-war songs . Lyricist Alfred Bryan collaborated with composer Al Piantadosi in writing the song, which inspired a sequel, some imitations, but also a number of scornful parodies . It was a hit in 1915, selling 650,000 copies . Its expression of popular pacifist sentiment "helped make the pacifist movement a hard, quantifiable political reality to be reckoned with ." </P> <P> The song gives the lament of a lonely mother whose son has been lost in the war: </P>

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