Copyright © 2003
by Alain Auzeral
By the barrack gate
Darling I remember
The way you used to wait
T'was there that you whispered tenderly,
That you loved me,
You'd always be,
My Lilli of the lamplight,
My own Lilli Marleen
Time for us to part,
Darling I'd caress you
And press you to my heart,
And there 'neath that far-off lantern light,
I'd hold you tight ,
We'd kiss good night,
My Lilli of the lamplight,
My own Lilli Marleen
Somewhere over there
All confined to barracks
was more than I could bear
I knew you were waiting in the street
I heard your feet,
But could not meet,
My Lilli of the lamplight,
my own Lilli Marleen
Just behind the lines
Even tho' we're parted,
Your lips are close to mine
You wait where that lantern softly gleams,
Your sweet face seems
To haunt my dreams
My Lilli of the lamplight,
My own Lilli Marleen
By the entry way
There a lantern I found
And if it stands today
Then we'll see each other again
Near that old lantern we'll remain
As once Lilli Marleen.
Melding into one
Our love was not fleeting
And plain to everyone,
Then all the people shall behold
When we stand by that lantern old
As once Lilli Marleen.
"There's tap call, let's go.
This could cost you three days."
"Be there in half a mo'."
So that was when we said farewell,
Tho' with you I would rather dwell,
With you, Lilli Marleen.
Your own determined gait.
Ev'ry evening waiting,
Me? A mem'ry of late.
Should something e'er happen to me,
Who will under the lantern be,
With you Lilli Marleen?
And from this earthly pale,
Like a dream you free me,
With your lips so hale.
When the night mists swirl and churn,
Then to that lantern I'll return,
As once Lilli Marleen.
-- Written by German soldier Hans Leip in 1915, set to music by Norbert Schultze in 1938 as "The Girl under the Lantern," recorded by Lale Andersen, broadcast by German Forces Radio but was quickly banned in Germany, broadcast daily by Radio Belgrade from Yugoslavia to the Afrika Korps in 1941 when Rommel indicated he liked it, adopted by the British Eighth Army as one of the favorite songs of World War II, sung on radio by Marlene Dietrich, recorded in English by Anne Sheldon in 1944. It was popular with American Forces who tuned in each evening to listen and to remember the woman who waited at home.
Lilli Marleen is said to have been translated into more than 48 languages, including French, Russian, Italian and Hebrew. It was sung in military hospitals and blasted over huge speakers, along with propaganda nuggets, across the frontlines, in both directions. An RCA US recording, by an anonymous chorus in June, made it to No. 13 in 1944. It hit the US charts again in 1968, the German charts again in 1981 and the Japanese charts in 1986. It may well be the most popular war song of all time.