Many WWI songs roused American pride to rally support for the war.
Liberty Bell It's Time to Ring Again by Joe Goodwin and Halsey K. Mohr, 1917, with illustration by Barbelle, was a call to arms. Listen to Arthur Field's recording here, which reached No. 5 in the hit song charts.
You have rested, Lib-er-ty Bell, for a hundred years and more,
End your slum-ber Lib-er-ty Bell, ring as you did before,
It's time to wake 'em up, it's time to shake 'em up,
It's a cause worth ringing for:
CHORUS:
Lib-er-ty Bell, it's time to ring again,
Lib-er-ty Bell, it's time to swing again,
We're in the same sort of fix, we were in seventy-six,
And we are ready to mix and rally 'round you like we did before, oh!
Lib-er-ty Bell, your voice is needed now,
Lib-er-ty Bell, we'll hear your call, one and all,
Though you're old and there's a crack in you
Don't forget Old Glor-y's back-in' you,
Oh! Lib-er-ty Bell, it's time to ring again.
Once you rang out, Lib-er-ty Bell, as we watched Old Glory wave,
You have made us, Lib-er-ty Bell, Land of the Free and Brave,
It's time to sing again, it's time to ring again,
For the cause you've got to save:
CHORUS
****
When Yankee Doodle Marches Through Berlin There'll Be a Hot Time in the U.S.A. by Andrew B. Sterling and Arthur Lange, 1917, illustrated by Stammer, is another example of American surety of victory.
Were lined up on the street one day.
Ev’ry flag was flying, ev’ry heart was sighing,
For the Yankee boys were coming down that way.
When suddenly a Yankee voice cried out.
They could tell it was a Yankee when they heard the shout.
Refrain: Here they come, here they come,
And the drums are beating there’ll be no retreating
They’ll be there, they’ll be there.
For there’s a victr’y in the air.
And they’ll win, yes they’ll win.
Then they’ll flash the news to old Broadway,
And when Yankee Doodle marches thro’ Berlin
There’ll be a hot time in the U.S.A.
Just picture them dashing,
when the news comes flashing,
“We’ve hauled the Kaisers ‘Black Flag’ down.”
To set bonfires burning for the boy returning
From the trenches to his little old hometown.
“Just take a look,” they heard that Yankee cry,
“Then go tell the Kaiser he can kiss himself goodbye.”
Refrain
****
We can read on hist’ry’s pages,
Deeds that famous men have done,
We are told of great commanders
Wellington and Alexanders,
And the battles they have won.
Take our own great Revolution
That began our evolution,
Washington then won his fame,
Today across the sea,
They’re making history,
The Yankee spirit still remains the same.
Refrain:
Just like Washington crossed the Delaware,
So will Pershing cross the Rhine,
As they followed after George,
At dear old Valley Forge,
Our boys will break that line.
It’s for your land and my land
And the sake of Auld Lang Syne,
Just like Washington crossed the Delaware,
Gen’ral Pershing will cross the Rhine.
Verse:
There upon the roll of honor,
Ev’ry one the soul of honor,
We find heroes of the past,
Like the ones who’ve gone before them
To our native land that bore them,
They were faithful to the last.
As they fought for Independence,
You and I and our descendants
Must preserve Democracy,
In God above we'll trust.
Our sword shall never rust,
We'll tell the world it simply has to be.
(refrain)
****
Not all the songs were rallies and calls to arms. A real heartbreaker, War Babies by Ballard McDonald, Edward Madden, and James F. Hanley, 1916 has a cover photograph of children in front of a destroyed village. Al Jolson sang it at the Winter Garden. It amounts to an anti-war song.
In the dust of what once was a home,
Two little tots lay, as the close of the day
Cast its shadow o'er Heaven's blue dome,
From afar in the gloom came the cannon's dull boom,
The roar of its shells filled the air,
And it lulled them to rest tightly held
to the breast of the mother who died for them there
Little war babies, our hearts ache for you,
Where will you go to, and what will you do?
Into a world full of sorrow you came,
Homeless and helpless, no one knows your name.
Gone is the mother love tender and true,
Gone is your dead daddy, too;
But you’ll share in the joys
Of our own girls and boys,
War babies, we’ll take care of you
While sitting some night by your fireside bright,
With the children you love and adore,
Just let your thoughts roam to that tumbled down home
That once stood in the pathway of war,
As the vision appears, you can see thru your tears
The two little tots all alone,
Will you wait till they plead for the things that they need?
Just suppose those two babes were your own
Little war babies, our hearts ache for you,
Where will you go to, and what will you do?
Into a world full of sorrow you came,
Homeless and helpless, no one knows your name.
Gone is the mother love tender and true,
Gone is your dead daddy, too;
But you’ll share in the joys
Of our own girls and boys,
War babies, we’ll take care of you
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