America, Here's My Boy

"America, Here's My Boy"
Song
Published	February 16, 1917
Composer(s)	Arthur Lange
Lyricist(s)	Andrew B. Sterling

"America, Here's My Boy" was one of the most popular songs in the United States in 1917. The lyrics were by Andrew B. Sterling and the music by Arthur Lange; the publisher was the Joe Morris Music Co. of New York City. Written at the peak of the preparedness movement and copyrighted on February 16, 1917, it was widely regarded as a reply to "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier," the pro-neutrality hit published two years before. After the country entered the war it became a pervasive expression of commitment, with many performances by amateurs in venues from minstrel shows to benefit concerts. It was a favorite of the troops at training camps, and in October it was sung to Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy, by 12,000 sailors at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

Morris issued the first printing in February, with a cover designed by André De Takacs that billed the song as "The sentiment of every American mother." Over the next nine months eight more printings were issued; arrangements for band, orchestra, and even concertina appeared; and a version in translation was issued in Denmark. Aggressive advertising followed the song's introduction in vaudeville by Conroy and O'Donnell at the Prospect Theatre, Brooklyn, on March 5, 1917. It was quickly taken up by other entertainers, including headliners like Elsie Janis; in an arrangement for band it was widely played by John Philip Sousa. It appeared on at least nine piano rolls and over ten records, the first and most successful of which was by the Peerless Quartet, made on February 21, 1917, and released on Victor 18256. In the summer of 1917, records released by Victor, Edison, Pathé, and Emerson all appeared on the Chicago Tribune's lists of "Three Best Sellers".

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