"For Your Boy and My Boy" is a 1918 song composed by

Egbert Van Alstyne Egbert Anson Van Alstyne (March 4, 1878 – July 9, 1951) was an American songwriter and pianist. Van Alstyne was the composer of a number of popular and ragtime tunes of the early 20th century. Biography Van Alstyne was born in Marengo, Il ...

, with lyrics written by

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...

and published by Jerome H. Remick & Co. The song was performed by

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

and later reached No. 4 on the top 100 US songs of 1918 with a cover by the

Peerless Quartet The Peerless Quartet was an American vocal group that recorded in the early years of the twentieth century. They formed to record for Columbia Records, where they were credited as the Columbia Quartet or Columbia Male Quartet. From about 1907, wh ...

Cover art and analysis

The cover illustration features a soldier carrying a bayonet, with a grenade in his hand standing near a German trench ready to throw the grenade at the German soldiers. A later cover features a soldier playing the bugle with "Lady Liberty" standing with her hands on his shoulders. "For Your Boy and My Boy" was originally written for the Fourth Liberty Loan drive which looked to sell bonds in order to support the allied cause during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It calls upon the patriotic duty of citizens to help out the soldiers overseas by buying bonds and funding the war effort. The chorus line "Ev'ry bond that we are buying will help the boys to cross the Rhine. Buy bonds, buy bonds, for your boy and mine," is repeated throughout the song to emphasize the importance of buying bonds. ''

The Music Trades ''The Music Trades'' is a -year-old American trade magazine that covers a broad spectrum of music and music commerce, domestically and abroad. Founded in New York City in 1890, it has been based in Englewood, New Jersey, since the mid-1970s. ''Th ...

'' said the melody is "particularly catchy and the words are such that they bring the meaning of the Liberty Loan drive right to the home, and bands will be blazing forth its melody from coast to coast."

References

External links

*Audio file of Peerless Quartet *Cover and Sheet Music at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{authority control 1918 songs Songs of World War I Songs with lyrics by Gus Kahn Songs with music by Egbert Van Alstyne

Cover art and analysis

See also

References

Further reading

External links