For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh, I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain’t marching anymore
It’s always the old to lead us to the wars
Always the young to fall
Now look at all we’ve won with the saber and the gun
Tell me, is it worth it all?
— Phil Ochs
1916 - Motorhead
Sixteen years old when I went to the war
To fight for a land fit for heroes
God on my side, and a gun in my hand
Chasing my days down to zero
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died
And I never did get any older
But I knew at the time that a year in the line
Was a long enough life for a soldier
We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names
And we added two years to our ages
Eager for life and ahead of the game
Ready for history’s pages
And we brawled and we fought and we whored ‘til we stood
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder
A thirst for the Hun, we were food for the gun
And that’s what you are when you’re soldiers
I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees
Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother
And I fell by his side, and that’s how we died
Clinging like kids to each other
And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood
And I wept as his body grew colder
And I called for my mother and she never came
Though it wasn’t my fault and I wasn’t to blame
The day not half over and ten thousand slain
And now there’s nobody remembers our names
And that’s how it is for a soldier