To Be A Soldier 
((French & German Versions: Avant La Guerre (by Charles Aznavour); (by Vor Dem Winter (by Charles Aznavour))
Composer(s): Charles Aznavour - Herbert Kretzmer
Performer(s): Charles Aznavour



She was a girl of sixteen summers
And I was scarcely any older
To see her once was but to love her
To love and cherish, and discover
My every thought was only of her
Before I went to be a soldier

T'was a time of young confusion
When blood runs hot and boys grow bolder
And all that summer long I chased her
Until she turned, until I faced her
On days of parties I embraced her
Before I went to be a soldier

There was a baby born in springtime
I wasn't there to see or hold her
The bugles called and I was sent for
To play the game that blood is spent for
The ancient game that youth is meant for
To be a man, to be a soldier

On foreign fields I've seen the slaughter
Of hot young boys who now grow colder
Where still in a fire burning blindly
Where only poppies still remind me
Of shining summer days behind me
Before I went to be a soldier

When I close my eyes and see my lover
A child asleep against her shoulder
A child of love whose life we started
When hope was new and open-hearted
A time that even more departed
The day I went to be a soldier

Be a soldier

Be a soldier

A soldier