The Music of World War Two

[Recoil]

I've been feeling nostalgic lately (I do a lot actually, haha) in light of the recent anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of the Bulge.  Since I have more personal connections to WW2, I tend to swing to 1940s nostalgia.  And with cannon fodder's post about old military rifles and the nostalgia he feels with them, I was inspired, I guess, to write up a post on the music of World War Two...To give you something to listen to when you're petting that Garand or K98, wondering how it got those dings and scratches and whose blood pitted the metal.

For me, music is special.  I was raised with music...I learned to play the piano, the cello and the guitar.  In my mind, music is a tangible connection to many things, particularly other people and history.  Music is someone else's thoughts and emotions.  Music is a time capsule to our past.

Just as is the case when you listen to The White Cockade, you can connect with our brave colonial ancestors who started the Revolution, you can listen to the music of the early 1940s and make a real connection to the GIs of the war.  It's what they listened to every day on the AFR and BBC, broadcast from London.  It's what they danced to at USO concerts.  The music both inspired and was inspired by the culture of the time.  You can't help but hear Louis Jordan or Johnny Mercer or Jimmy Dorsey and picture pin-up girls painted on airplanes or tanks in your mind.

Music played probably the most important role it ever played in a war, during World War Two.  Never before and perhaps never since had music been used so extensively to reflect upon and even influence the war.  WW2 was the first mass media war so the effect was profound.  Our entire culture was engulfed in war movies, war songs, war posters and advertisements, and so forth.  The war became our art, and our art became our war.

Music was used to boost morale, it was it was used for good and bad propaganda.  When she sings "kiss me once, kiss me twice, then kiss me once again...It's been a long, long time" in Henry James' It's Been A Long, Long Time, they were inspiring wives and girlfriends to dream of their GI husbands and boyfriends coming home, and they were inspiring the GIs to dream of their women and the day they'd go home to them.  The song Der Fuhrer's Face is a clear and crude jab in the eye of Hitler and his Nazis.  And the Germans played plenty of inspirational nationalistic music that was designed to inspire the Germans and express the Nazi vision.

Music was extremely influential and powerful during the war.  Listening to it is a direct connection to that dreadful, yet equally wonderful time in America's history.

So if you want to take a trip back in time, grab your surplus rifle and fire up some of these tunes and go back to when America was truly great...You'll be back there on the lines in Anzio, in France or Midway in no time.

I've uploaded some of the biggest hits of the time.  This is not, by any means, a comprehensive list; hundreds of songs were written then after all.  I've left out the Big Band swing-type music as we're no doubt all familiar with Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, etc. already.  I haven't neglected that, but instead of decided to focus on other kinds of pop music of the era (much of which was still Big Band anyway).  It should be noted that a few are repeats, as it was very common for various artists to release their own versions of contemporary songs back then, opposed to covers of old songs like we do it today.

I will also upload some German music eventually too.

Enjoy!

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American Music

Bing Crosby -- I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters -- Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive (1944)
Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters -- There'll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin (1944)
Ella Fitzgerald -- Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (1944)
Glen Gray and The Casa Loma Orchestra -- My Heart Tells Me (1944)
Harry James -- I Don't Want To Walk Without You (1942)
Harry James -- It's Been A Long, Long Time (1945)
Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra -- Tangerine (1942)
Johnny Mercer -- Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive (1945)
Johnny Mercer -- On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (1945)
Johnny Mercer --G.I. Jive (1944)
Les Brown & His Orchestra -- Sentimental Journey (1945)
Louis Armstrong -- I Wonder
Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five -- G.I. Jive (1944)
Sammy Kaye -- Daddy (1941)
Spike Jones and His City Slickers -- Der Fuehrer's Face (1943)
The Andrews Sisters -- Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (1941)
The Andrews Sisters -- Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (1942)
The Andrews Sisters -- Rum and Coca-Cola (1945)
The Ink Spots -- I'll Get By
The Kay Kyser Orchestra -- Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition (1942)
The Mills Brothers -- Paper Doll (1943)
The Pied Pipers -- Dream (1945)
Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra -- When The Lights Go On Again (1943)

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German Music

Marlene Dietrich -- Lili Marleen (1939) -- This song was HUGELY popular on both sides and is the most popular song of the war believe it or not.  The Nazi Party hated it because it's somewhat sad and as they thought, demoralizing.  However, the German soldiers wrote to radio stations demanding to hear the song, and Field Marshall Irwin Rommel himself who loved the song, ordered it.  Eventually it was played, and became a favorite of the Allies who tuned into German radio to listen.  In fact, our guys got in trouble for singing it in German, so someone eventually wrote English lyrics to the tune.

Panzerlied (1933) -- This is the theme for the Panzer Truppen.  You may recognize it from the movie Battle of the Bulge.

Erika -- This was a popular German march during the war.  Lyrics posted below.

[jeffdorr]

  My folks still listen to some of this big band stuff- as well as country.

   Jeff

[Recoil]

Glad you like it cannon. 

[snowy]

Nice post. I love how music can express unpopular/minority view points. 

-snowy

[longtab]

I'm downloading them all right now... thanks for posting them!

[Recoil]

Awesome.  No problem at all, Guys. 

[Spade]

I really appreciate this recoil. Thanks for the post. Keep it coming.

[Recoil]

Okay, I've posted a new German march above that I found a copy of, called Erika.  Most recorded Third Reich music is pretty raw and scratchy, and I finally found a good version of Erika.  I've heard the original recording of this tune and how the guy I got it from cleaned it up, I have no idea.  But to say he's talented is an understatement.  It sounds like it was recorded in a modern studio.

Anyway, Erika is a double entendre, referring to both a girl named (obviously) Erika, and a flower called Erika in the German language.  The song's lyrics, when taken literally, refer to the flower.  However with the double meaning, it's actually about the girl, which the second verse makes clear.

This march was extremely popular with the Wehrmacht and was sung a lot.  I just can't help but imagine some 19 year old German kid marching through Paris after just getting done piss-pounding the French, singing this song with his battalion as they go under the Arc de Triomphe, feeling like he was on top of the world.  Those early years in the Wehrmacht must have truly been thrilling and you can feel that "Deutschland uber Alles" spirit in their marches.

Here's the lyrics auf Deutsch.  I think I've got them right, minus the uniquely German umlauts and eszetts:

Auf der Heide bluht ein kleines Blumelein
Und das heisst...Erika.
Heiss von hundert tausend kleinen Bienelein
Wird umschwarmt...Erika.
Denn ihr Herz ist voller Sussigkeit,
Zarter Duft entstromt dem Blutenkleid
Auf der Heide bluht ein kleines Blumelein
Und das heisst...Erika.

In der Heimat wohnt ein kleines Magdelein
Und das heisst...Erika.
Dieses Madel ist mein treues Schatzelein
Und mein Gluck...Erika.
Wenn das Heidekraut rot-lila bluht,
Singe ich zum Gruss ihr dieses Lied.
Auf der Heide bluht ein kleines Blumelein
Und das heiss...Erika.

There's lots of other verses but this recording only had the first two.  Beggars can't be choosers.

It is my opinion that when it comes to marching songs, while we've got some goodies, nobody does marches like the Germans.

Here's my English translation for y'all:

In the meadow blooms a small flower
And it's called...Erika
Hot from a hundred thousand small bees
All swarmed around...Erika
It's heart is full of sweetness
Delicate aroma streams from her flower dress
And it's called...Erika

Back home lives a small girl
And she's named...Erika
That lady is my true treasure
And my luck...Erika
When the meadow flower bloomed red and purple
I sing Erika this song to greet her
On the meadow blooms a small flower
And she's called...Erika

I think I can come up with some more, so I'll keep posting if anyone's interested.