John Brown went off to war
To fight on a foreign shore
His mother's show is proud of him
Hello, he stood so straight and tall
In his uniform and all
His mother's face broke out all in a grin
Oh, son, you look so fine
I'm glad you're a son of mine
You make me proud to know you hold a gun
Do what the captain says
Lots of medals you will get
And we'll put them on the wall when you come home
When that old train pulled out
John's ma began to shout
Telling everyone in the neighborhood
That's my son that's about to go
He's a soldier now, you know
She made well sure her neighbors understood
She got a letter once in a while
And her face broke into a smile
As she showed him from to the people from next door
And she bragged about her son
With his uniform and gun
And this thing she called a good old-fashioned war
Lord, Lord, good old-fashioned war
And the letters ceased to come
For a long time they did not come
They ceased to come for about nine months or more
Then a letter finally came
Saying go down and meet the train
Your sons are coming home from the war
She smiled and went right down
She looked up and all around
But she did not see her soldier son in sight
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last
When she did, she could hardly believe her eyes
His face was all shot up and his hands were both blown off
And he wore a middle brace around his waist
He whispered kind of slow in a voice she did not know
While she could not even recognize his face
Oh, tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they've done
How is it that you've come to be this way?
He tried his best to talk as his mouth could hardly move
And his mother had to turn her head away
Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do
I was on the battleground, you were home acting proud
He thanked God you wasn't hurt
And standing in my shoes
Lord, I thought when I was there
God, what am I doing here?
I'm trying to kill somebody or die trying
But the thing that scared me most
Is when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine
Lord, Lord, just like mine
And through, through
And I could not help but think
Through the thunder rolling stink
That I was just a puppet in a play
And through the roaring smoke
The string had finally broke
And a cannonball had blew my eyes away
As he turned away to walk
His ma was still in shock
Seeing the middle brace around his waist
That helped him stand
But as he turned to go
He called his mother close
And he dropped his medals
Down into her hand
Lord, Lord
Down into her hand