Answer Songs

"I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier," published in January 1915, a few months after war broke out in Europe became a rallying cry for the nation's pacifists. Reflecting the official U.S. policy of neutrality, the song was one of the most popular of the era. Two years later, after America entered the war, "answer" songs, such as "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Slacker," "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Coward," and "Don't Marry a Slacker, Girls" offered a decidedly pro-war sentiment. The Library of Congress holds more than 14,000 pieces of sheet music relating to World War I.