First World War.com - Vintage Audio - I'm Gonna Pin My Medal On The Girl I Left Behind

First World War.com - A multimedia history of world war one

Composer Irving Berlin Vintage Audio: I'm Gonna Pin My Medal On The Girl I Left Behind
Updated - Saturday, 5 June, 2004

Reproduced below are the lyrics to the American wartime song I'm Gonna Pin My Medal on the Girl I Left Behind.

Featured in the smash hit 1918 musical Ziegfeld Follies the patriotic song was written by the prolific Irving Berlin.

Click here to listen to a version of the song performed by the Peerless Quartet in 1918 (MP3 format 1,169kb).

I'm Gonna Pin My Medal on the Girl I Left Behind

First Verse
"Over there" in France
In a big advance
Little Johnny stood the test
Johnny held his ground
Now he struts around
With a medal on his chest
There's a happy look in his eyes
And ev'ry now and then he cries:

Chorus
I'm gonna pin my medal on the girl I left behind
She deserves it more than I
For the way she said "goodbye"

You should have seen her try to keep away the tears that blind
A braver hero
Would be hard to find

She puts a smile in ev'ry letter she signs
But I can read what's in her heart between the lines

And when I get back
Yes, when I get back
I'm gonna pin my medal on the girl I left behind

Second Verse
When the boys come home
From across the foam
To the girls they love the best
There'll be more than one
Little Yankee son
With a medal on his chest
When the drive is over this Spring
A lot of soldier boys will sing:

By 1918 the percentage of women to men working in Britain had risen to 37% from 24% at the start of the war.