"Kiss Me before I Die Mother"
The most sung about figure in all Civil War music may be “Mother.” The formulaic tear-jerker frequently invoked Mother in the last words of a dying soldier. She embodies the sentimentality of the era and reminds us of the unprecedented number of soldiers under the age of twenty who fought in the Civil War. “Kiss Me before I Die Mother” is a Southern contribution to the genre. The spare cover and inferior paper are indicative of the paper and ink shortages faced by publishers in the South.
The most sung about figure in all Civil War music may be “Mother.” The formulaic tear-jerker frequently invoked Mother in the last words of a dying soldier. She embodies the sentimentality of the era and reminds us of the unprecedented number of soldiers under the age of twenty who fought in the Civil War. “Kiss Me before I Die Mother” is a Southern contribution to the genre. The spare cover and inferior paper are indicative of the paper and ink shortages faced by publishers in the South.