"Mother Is the Battle Over?
Can I Come Home From Canada?
or The B. J.’s Lament" (27 Oct 1865)
(29715; Copyright Library Jan 1866; M1640.T)
Words and Music by
J. W. Turner

Detroit, MI: J. Henry Whittemore, 179 Jefferson Ave.
[Source: 200002114@LoC/IHAS-CWM]

1. O, Mother, is the battle o’er? 
O, tell me, do, I pray! 
I’ve been so long, in Canada, 
I long to get away! 
They say the war is ended, 
Indeed I hope ’tis so, 
You know I love my country well, 
But the “Drafting” made me go.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Mother is the battle over? 
Tell me, do, I pray? 
Can I come home from Canada? 
I want to get away!

2. Can I come home from Canada, 
To live with you again? 
O, I am longing for the day, 
My heart is fill’d with pain; 
You know I always told you that 
For native land I’d fight, 
But when the time comes, mother, dear, 
I took an awful fright.

3. So down I went to Canada, 
Among the Johnny B’s, 
But they call me a deserter 
From the land of the Yankees! 
Dear mother I am tired now, 
Of living on this way— 
Can I come home from Canada? 
Is the battle over, Say?