"I Want to Be a Soldier Like My Dad"
by Robert Lewis
Sep. 1918 Columbia record supplement from the Archeophone Records collection |
In a typical vaudeville routine, a song fronted by a dumb show dramatizing the lyric, the fantastic likelihood of a child stowaway on a troop ship is the premise of "I want to Be A Soldier Like My Dad." As the child offers to replace his dead father on the battle fields of France, the pride of a country must have swelled. After he's found, in the lyric, he offers this plea to the captain of the troops:
I want to be a soldier like my Daddy
I want to be a hero brave and true.
I may be just a tiny little lady
But I can help to fight for freedom too.
My Daddy said 't'was hard to keep our flag flying high
My Grandad sid he died for liberty.
Won't you please give me a chance
To do my bit in France
I want to be a soldier like my Dad.
The captain, of course, escorts him off of the ship, but not before he admits he wishes he were older. When children are set up as role models, how can adults shirk duty? The fantasy overcomes reality.
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