When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
When boys they were happy
Workin' and playin' and horsin' around
Now they are men and we all will salute them
As we lay them into the ground
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
Boys will be boys in all lands on the earth
Curly and straight hair and blue eyes and brown
Dear to their mothers who labored in birth
And then breaking their hearts as they lay in the ground
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
What in the world are we thinking?
Laying these guns in the arms of young men (and women too)
Haven't we learned from our history of war
That this fails us again (Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq now Iran)
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
When boys they were happy
Workin' and playin' and horsin' around
Now they are men and we all will salute them
As we lay them into the ground
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
Boys will be boys in all lands on the earth
Curly and straight hair and blue eyes and brown
Dear to their mothers who labored in birth
And then breaking their hearts as they lay in the ground
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?
What in the world are we thinking?
Laying these guns in the arms of young men (and women too)
Haven't we learned from our history of war
That this fails us again (Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq now Iran)
When did these boys become men?
When did we lose them to war?
Mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers
All asking each other: what for?