Lyrics:

(Bob Dylan)

Gaslight Café, New York City, New York, October 1962

Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal)

When John Brown went off to war
to fight on a foreign shore,
his mother sure was proud of him. (hm-hm)
As he stood so straight and tall
in his uniform and all,
his mother's face broke out all to 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 everybody in the whole neighborhood:
that's my son that's about to go.
He's a soldier now you know.
She made well sure her neighbors understood.
Oh lord, understood.

She got a letter once in a while
and her face broke into a smile
as she showed them to the people next door.
And she bragged about her son
with his uniform and gun
and these things she called 'a good old fashioned war'.

Then the letters ceased to come,
for a long time they never come.
They ceased to come for about nine months or more.
Then a letter finally came,
saying go down and meet the train.
Your son's coming home from the war.
Oh lord, from the war.

Well 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 metal 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 my darling son,
tell me what to you they've done.
How is it you come to be this way?
His mouth could hardly move
as he tried his best to talk
and she did not even recognize his voice.

Oh 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 battle ground,
you were home, feeling proud.
Thank God you wasn't standing in my shoes.

Oh and I thought when I was there,
God, what am I doing here?
I'm trying to kill my enemy or die trying.
But as the enemy came close
the thing that hurt me most,
as I saw that his face looked just like mine.
Oh lord, just like mine.

And I couldn't help but think
through the thunderous sound and stink
that I was just a puppet in a play.
But through the roar and smoke
the string it finally broke
and a cannonball blew my eyes away.

As he turned away to walk
his ma was still in a shock,
seeing the metal brace that helped him stand.
But as he turned to go
he called his mother close
and he dropped his medals down into her hand.
Oh lord, to her hand.