Song 5 "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier"

"Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" is a song orginating from the American Revolution.

It is about a woman whos husband (or son I suppose) has left to be in the army. It is describing her sadness as well as the struggles she is going to have to go through without a main provider of the household. It also talks about the sacrifices she will have to be making.

I think of this song more as a story (especially in this version). In other versions it has two parts: a male and a female, which makes it seem almost like a conversation. The language is more simple, but the repetition of the line "Johnny has gone for a soldier" makes it hard to forget what the woman is struggling with.

I thought this song is very sad. There is a great possibility that the woman will never see Johnny again. It also is very catchy, I find myself humming it sometimes. It's easy to see how it still happens to be around because of the tune and the story in the song.

This song shows that even though it must have hurt the wives and mothers of the time the men thought it was their duty to go and join the army for their country. The women left behind must have had to make many sacrifices for them to be gone. I never really thought too much about the women left behind. It offers a new perspective of the Revolutionary War or any war for that matter.