So Long, Mother

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| name = So Long, Mother

| cover = So long, mother.jpg

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| type = song

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| released = 1917

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| composer = Egbert Van Alstyne

| lyricist = Raymond B. Egan, Gus Kahn

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"So Long, Mother" is a World War I era song released in 1917. Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics. Egbert Van Alstyne composed the music.{{cite book |last1=Vogel |first1=Frederick G. |date=1995 |title=World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics |location=Jefferson |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |page=236 |isbn=0-89950-952-5}} The song was published by Jerome H. Remick & Co. of Detroit, Michigan. On the cover is a soldier and mother in an embrace. Adjacent is an inset photo of singer Al Jolson.{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Bernard |date=2007 |volume=2 |title=World War I Sheet music |location=Jefferson |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |page=590 |isbn=978-0-7864-2799-4}} It was written for both voice and piano.{{cite web |url=http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm_b0387/ |title=So long, mother |author= |website=Duke University libraries: Digital Collections |publisher=Duke University |access-date=25 February 2016}}

The song is told from the soldier's point of view as he comforts his heavyhearted mother before he leaves for war. The chorus is as follows:{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100009501/ |title=So long, mother |author= |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=25 February 2016}}

{{poemquote|So long my dear old lady

Don't you cry

Just kiss your grown-up baby goodbye

Somewhere in France I'll be dreaming of you

You and your dear eyes of blue

Come let me see you smile before we part

I'll throw a kiss to cheer your dear old heart

Dry the tear in your eye

Don't you sigh

Don't you cry

So long, mother

Kiss your boy goody-bye}}

The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library.{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19956744 |title=So long, mother: Al Jolson's mother song |author= |year=1917 |publisher=OCLC WorldCat |oclc=19956744 |access-date=25 February 2016}}