John Brown went off to war, called to battle on a foreign shore
And his mother, she sure was proud of him
When he stood so straight and tall, in his uniform and all
His mother's face broke out in a glowing grin

She said, "Son, you look so fine, I'm so glad you're a son of mine
You make me proud to know you hold a gun
Do what your captain says an' lots of medals you will get
Then we'll hang them on the wall when you come home."

As that evening train pulled out, John's ma began to shout
Telling everybody in the neighborhood:
"That's my son that's about to go, he's a soldier now, you know,"
And she made well sure her neighbors understood

She got a letter once in a while, and her face broke into a smile
Then she showed them to the people from next door
And she bragged about her son, with his uniform and gun
And this thing they called “a good old-fashioned war.”

“A good old-fashioned war.”

After all his letters home, his mail had ceased to come
And she hadn't heard a word for nine months or more
Then one letter finally came: "Go down and meet the train
Your son is coming home from the war."

Oh, she smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she could not find her soldier son in sight
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last
And when she did, she could hardly believe her eyes

His young face was all shot up, and one hand had been blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know
And she could not even recognize his face

She said, "Oh, my darling son, Lord, tell me what they've done
How is it that you ended up this way?"
He tried his best to speak, but his mouth could hardly move
And his mother had to turn her face away

"Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
When I was on that battleground, you were home an' acting proud
Be glad that you weren't standing in my shoes

And I thought when I was there, 'God, what am I doing here?
Just tryin' to kill somebody or DIE tryin'.'
But the thing that scared me most, when my enemy came up close
I saw his frightened face looked just like mine

Lord, just like mine

Then I couldn't help but think, through that thunder and the stink
I was only one more puppet in their play
And through the roar and smoke, that string, it finally broke
And a blast of fire blew my eyes away."

When the young man tried to walk, his mother was still in shock
As she saw that metal brace that helped him stand
But as they turned to go, he held his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand