"Break the News to Mother" is a war song first released in 1897. The song was popular during the Spanish–American War, and re-released during World War I.[1] It is sometimes erroneously believed to be an American Civil War song.[2] Charles "Chas" K. Harris wrote the lyrics and composed the music.[1] The song was originally published by Harris in New York, New York.[3]
Originally Harris wrote the song about a fireman. After the USS Maine explosion in Havana Harbor in 1898, Harris rewrote it with a soldier in place of a fireman.[2]
The song tells the story of a young soldier who is fatally shot while saving his company's fallen flag. The General, who initially praises the soldier for his brave deed, realizes he is, in fact, his own son. The chorus is the soldier's dying wishes, and is as follows:[4]
"Just break the news to mother,
she knows how dear I love her
And tell her not to wait for me
For, I'm not coming home;
Just say there is no other
can take the place of mother
Then kiss her dear,
sweet lips for me,
and break the news to her."
The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library.[5]
^ abVogel, Frederick G. (1995). World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, With Over 300 Complete Lyrics. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 159. ISBN 0-89950-952-5.
^ ab"Break the News to Mother". The Authentic History Center. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
^Cite error: The named reference parker was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference southcarolina was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Break the news to mother. OCLC WorldCat. OCLC 25691903. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
and 21 Related for: Break the News to Mother information
year, Jodie, now in the Army, also returns to Kya's life, expressing regret he left her alone and breakingthenews their mother had suffered from mental...
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training is a 1977 American sports comedy-drama film and a sequel tothe 1976 feature film The Bad News Bears. One year...
profess a fourth vow: to give "wholehearted free service tothe poorest of the poor." Mother Teresa received several honours, including the 1962 Ramon Magsaysay...
Prison Break is an American drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic...
is themother of Naomi Biden and the former wife of Hunter Biden, a son of U.S. President Joe Biden. She is the author of the 2022 memoir If We Break: A...
"Prenatal and postnatal diagnosis of infant disability: Breakingthenewstomothers". The Journal of Perinatal Education. 17 (3). Springer: Lamaze International:...
16, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008. "BreakingNews – "The Big Bang Theory" And "How I Met Your Mother" To Swap Time Periods". TheFutonCritic.com. February...
The US sitcom How I Met Your Mother premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005. Created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, the show is presented from the perspective...
reviews. It was followed by two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training in 1977 and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan in 1978, a short-lived 1979–80...
the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. News is sometimes called "hard news" to differentiate it from soft media. Common topics for news reports...
Prison Break is an American serial drama television series that premiered on the Fox network on August 29, 2005, and finished its fifth season on May...
Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert", which interrupted its regular programming when a breakingnews story occurred.[citation needed] To accelerate...
portrayals of Lincoln Burrows in Fox's Prison Break (2005–2009; 2017), Mick Rory / Heat Wave in The CW's The Flash (2014–2016) and Legends of Tomorrow (2016–2021)...
Break Ke Baad (transl. After TheBreak) is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Danish Aslam and starring Deepika Padukone and...
Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter Queen Elizabeth II. Born into a family of British nobility, Elizabeth came to prominence...
He rose to prominence following his starring role as Michael Scofield in the Fox series Prison Break, for which he received a nomination for the Golden...
mother moved the family to San Jose, California, where his grandmother and extended family took care of the boys while his mother taught English to other...
portrayed Roz Doyle in the NBC sitcom Frasier and Kim Keeler in the ABC Family drama series Make It or Break It. Gilpin appeared on the TV series Cheers, playing...
surrogate mother". Archived from the original on March 1, 2011 – via telegraph.co.uk. "Zee News: Latest News, Live BreakingNews, Today News, India Political...
became queen mother when her eldest son, Edward VIII, ascended the throne. To her dismay, he abdicated later the same year in order to marry twice-divorced...
Global Information