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It's a Long, Long Way to the U.S.A. (And the Girl I Left Behind)

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1917 song

"It's a Long, Long Way to the U.S.A. (And the Girl I Left Behind)"
Sheet music cover, part of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library collection
Song
Released	January 1, 1917 (1917-01-01)[1]
Label	Harry Von Tilzer Publishing Company
Songwriter(s)	Composer: Harry Von Tilzer Lyricist: Val Trainor

"It's a Long, Long Way to the U.S.A (And the Girl I Left Behind)" is a World War I era song released in 1917. Val Trainor wrote the lyrics. Harry Von Tilzer composed the music.^[2] The song was published by Harry Von Tilzer Publishing Company of New York, New York.^[3] It was written for both voice and piano.^[4]

Edward H. Pfeiffer designed the sheet music cover. Pfeiffer illustrated more than 1,500 covers throughout his career.^[5] This one in particular featured soldiers sitting around a campfire. One of the soldiers is dreaming about a woman, whose image is seen in the smoke clouds.^[6] The title of the song was borrowed from the popular march, "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary."^[7]

The song was successful in 1917. It is one of Tilzer's 22 war-inspired songs. The song tells the story of a wounded soldier giving his friend a verbal message to deliver to his "little girl" and mother. It appears as though the soldier is near death as he speaks softly and says, "Night and day how I was praying her dear face once more to see." The chorus is as follows:^[8]

"It's a long, long way to U.S.A.

And the girl I left behind;

And if you get back some day,

Give my love to her and say

That her boy was true;

Tell dear mother, too,

Just to always treat her kind.

It's a long, long way to the U.S.A.

And the girl I left behind."

The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library.^[9]

References[edit]

Bibliography

• Vogel, Frederick G. World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. ISBN 0-89950-952-5

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