The anniversary of D-Day in Normandy and Rememberance Day are times that I pause and reflect on how fortunate I am to live during a time of relative peace, and in a country where, with some effort, I can be happy and free.
With D-Day’s commemoration on June 6, I think back to those responsible for my “luck;” our fathers and grandfathers, brothers, sons and uncles who fought on many fronts, and some lost their lives, paid the ultimate price, to defend what is right and how we choose to live. Men and women; we owe them a debt of gratitude.
And I think about how they lived. I try to imagine what life was like for them, to understand who they were and what they did, both in peace and at times of war. And I listen to the music.
Music is an important part of who I am. Last week, I was looking to find a few songs that spoke about D-Day, but I could not find any. And then I thought – not really that surprising given what they faced that day on and beyond the beaches of the five main landing sites of the Allied invasion. By day's end, 155,000 Allied troops – British, Canadians and Americans – had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches: Gold (U.K.), Juno (Canada), Sword (U.K. and Canada), Utah and Omaha (U.S.).
What I did do was rediscover the popular songs of the day, the fabulous music and musicians of the late '30s and throughout the Second World War, who boosted the morale of the fighting men, a blitzed country and a war weary public. The songs could poke fun, incite dancing or patriotism, be hopeful, even bring a sentimental tear to the eye.
Below are some of the songs they sang or heard in the pubs, clubs and in the barracks in the weeks and days leading up to embarkation in preparation for H-Hour on D-Day.
1. Vera Lynn, "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" (1941–42)
Words by Nat Burton and music by Walter Kent.
Vera Lynn is an English singer and actress who was called the "Forces Sweetheart." She was well loved, and she recorded, performed and toured extensively. In 2009, at the age of 92, Lynn became the oldest living artist to make it to number one on the British album chart.
The lyrics to this '40s song brought hope and looked forward to a time when the war would be over and peace returned to Britain and her "White Cliffs of Dover’."
2. Marlene Dietrich, "Lili Marlene" (English) (1944)
German lyrics by Hans Leip and music by Norbert Schultze. Tommie Connor later wrote English lyrics. The song was popular on both sides of the war. Many cover versions were recorded, including the earliest by popular English songtress Anne Shelton, another by Vera Lynn and one by Perry Como in June 1944.
The tune for "Lili Marlene" was used for a unique version called "The D-Day Dodgers," sung by the Canadian army remaining in Italy once the Normandy invasion had begun in 1944.
3. Arthur Askey, "Kiss me Goodnight, Sergeant Major" (1939)
Arthur Askey was a well known English comedian and actor, who appeared on radio, film and very early television (BBC). "Sergant Major," a British soldier's song mocking their officers, was written by Art Noel and Don Pelosi in 1939 and recorded by Askey, George Formby Jr. and later even Vera Lynn. In 1940, Askey wanted to record "It's Really Nice to See you Mr. Hess" (after Hitler's deputy fled to Scotland), but the song was banned by the War Office.
4. The Andrews Sisters, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B" (1941)
The Andrews Sisters really were sisters: LaVerne (born in 1911), Maxene (born in 1916) and Patricia "Patty" Andrews (born in 1918). Specializing in swing and boogie-woogie, their ultra close sibling harmony was featured in over 600 songs, and sold 75-100 million records. They also appeared in many films. This is an excerpt from the Abbott and Costello film, Buck Privates. (1941)
Patty, lead singer, survives her two sisters and just turned 94 in February 2012.
5. Vera Lynn, "We'll Meet Again" (1939/1942)
Written in 1939 by Ross Parker and Hugh Charles, the lyrics to "We'll Meet Again" resonated with soldiers, their families and sweethearts as soldiers went off to war, some never to return. As with many of the popular songs of the time, there are a number of cover versions, but the 1942 recording by Vera Lynn and the 1943 movie of the same name made "We'll Meet Again" one of the most emblematic songs of the war.
6. George Formby, "Imagine me on the Maginot Line"
Classic British humour. George Formby was a northern British comedian, who sang and played ukulele and banjolele. Formby’s flat feet kept him from military service, so he joined the Blackpool Home Guard as a dispatch rider and began an extensive series of troop concerts. First to visit the British Expeditionary Force in Normandy in 1940, he eventually toured the front lines of North Africa, Malta, Sicily, Gibraltar and Italy, and was in Normandy less than a week after D-Day.
A real "cheeky chappie," Formby sang light, comic songs that were a little bawdy, and full of double entendre, just what the troops abroad and civilians at home needed.
7. Glenn Miller, "Moonlight Serenade" (1939)
Glenn Miller was a big band leader, arranger, composer and trombone player during the swing era. In December 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided to join the war effort, eventually forming his 50-piece Army Air Force Band, performing on radio and for the troops. Miller took the band to England in the summer of 1944, where he gave over 800 performances.
On Dec. 15, 1944, while he was travelling to entertain in France, Miller disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. The reason remains a mystery. This video starts with the BBC announcement that Miller is reported missing.
8. The Two Leslies, "(We’re Gonna) Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line" (1939)
A marching song written by Irish songwriter Capt. Jimmy Kennedy, while in the British Army's Royal Artillery. Some verses were added by comic songsters the Two Leslies (Leslie Sarony and Leslie Holmes).
9. Spike Jones, "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1942)
This live, silly, fabulous bit of comic propaganda by Spike Jones and the City Slickers was "resented" by Movietone News in 1942
And, these are really great, too: Der Furher's Face (1942), by Disney with Donald Duck, and another Der Furher’s Face cartoon – perhaps a Looney Tunes.
10. Dooley Wilson, "As Time Goes By" (1942)
"Play it, Sam," says Ingrid Bergman, but Dooley Wilson was a singer and drummer, not a pianist. The piano was played off camera by Elliot Carpenter. Rumour has it "As Time Goes By" was nearly cut from the movie, which was released only a few weeks after the Allied invasion of North Africa and the capture of Casablanca.
Although composed in 1931 by Herman Hupfeld, "As Time Goes By" was only a hit after appearing in 1942’s Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart, Bergman and Paul Henreid as the idealistic patriot Victor Laszlo. And "Sam" sings it.
11. The Andrews Sisters, "Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree" (1942)
Originally titled "Anywhere the Bluebird Goes," Sam H. Stept updated the melody of a 19th century English folk song, and lyrics added by Lew Brown and Charles Tobias. In February 1942, the Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded the song, and by May the Andrews Sisters performed the song in the film Private Buckaroo.
12. Vaughn Monroe, "When the Lights go on Again (All over the World)" (1942)
Written by Bennie Benjamin, Eddie Seiler and Sol Marcus. Here's another great version by Vera Lynn.
13. Irving Berlin, "This is the Army, Mr. Jones" (1942)
"This is the Army" mocks the attitudes of middle class soldiers, forced to undergo the rigors of life in the barracks.
14. George Formby, "I Did What I Could With my Gas Mask"
Another classic Formby, written by Isaacs and Leslie.
15. Glenn Miller, "In the Mood" (1941)
Arranged by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf just before the war, and was based on a melody called "Tar Paper Stomp." "In The Mood" remained a big hit for Miller for the duration.
What are your favourite war-era songs? Let us know in the comments below, or email us at singersongwriter@cbc.ca.
Related:
CBC Digital Archives: News broadcast from June 6, 1944
CBC News: The allied invasion of Normandy
CBC Digital Archives: 10 years after D-Day: CBC's war-era broadcaster Matthew Halton