Song is based on the poem 'Young Sons' by the poet Bill Mitton. It is written from a Mother and her son point of view, we all know that Mothers also lose daughters to war and when I sing this song I make a point of remembering that fact to the audience.

Music written by Marina Florance

Arrangement by Marina Florance. Song recorded in my living room using a Tascam DR05.

The Path He Chose

Mitton/Florance

She takes down a photograph

and she holds it to her breast

just as she'd done the child it shows

she remembers his hair and how it felt

and she curses the path he chose

with a boyish smile and happiness

he picked the shilling and the gun

and she looks back with fear and dread

when he told her what he'd done

Chorus

like his father before him and his grandfather to

he'll march to war to save me and you

and have we learned nothing, nothing at all

when will we stop sending young men to war

yet she smiled and she waved him goodbye

as only a mother can

and if god was good if god was great

she'd see him return home again

but fickle fate it knows no god

makes judgements where it will

and IEDs don't discriminate

'bout who they maim or kill

Chorus

young sons often come home its true,

fulfilling their mothers fears

not with a boyish smile or happiness

but draped in flags and a mothers tear

Chorus, repeat 1st verse