Posted on 03/20/2020 12:29:31 PM PDT by Borges
Dame Vera Lynn has used her 103rd birthday to call on the British public to find "moments of joy" during these "hard times".
The London-born singer marked the special occasion with a new video for her wartime classic We'll Meet Again.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
You didn’t have to fly a Spit or carry a rifle to serve your country.
That’s sort of like Keats and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’. He identifies his songbird as female; but it’s the male that sings.
Knowing that hundreds of thousands would NOT meet again is beyond grief. But it was a hope at the time that many a man carried to his grave.
Little did I realize that only a few years removed men and women like my parents dreamed of surviving WWII and coming home to lead a normal life.
And today we ‘shelter in place’ over a flu. Something got lost along the way regarding fortitude.
A blessing to know that Dame Vera is still with us.
She’s outlived the generation of 1940 and is seeing what has replaced it.
Always thought that “We’ll Meet Again”, a song encouraging hope for the future, was misused in Dr. Strangelove as a backdrop for nuclear explosions symbolizing the end of the world by doomsday machine.
Ironically, all those atomic tests resulted in the uneasy peace of the Cold War, which lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union.
The songs of WW2 that carried so many heavy hearts. She is a treasure.
Splendid song, thanks for sharing the link.
That's the 1953 version, which everyone remembers from 'Dr. Strangelove," when it played in the background as hydrogen bombs lit up the screen. Here's the original version, from th late fall of 1939. This is what thy used to play at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. at the end of UCLA home games.
We'll Meet Again--Vera Lynn
Calling Me Home--Vera Lynn (1936)
That song could be an answer to this:
Old-Fashioned Lady--Vaughn De Leath (1929)
Just as hundreds of thousands of mothers would never again reunite with their sons.
Just a Mother's Prayer at Twilight--Vera Lynn (1939)
Does any body here remember Vera Lynn, remember when she said we would meet again some sunny day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCawgpFg_Bg
Nicer version, even though I always liked Vera Lynn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sThuGZcEtuU
I had no idea she was still alive... Bless her!!
“”This always makes me tear up.””
Me too! I think we’re revealing our age but I don’t care!!! She sang songs that no one else ever sang - they belonged to her!
Of course...or any loved one or friend.
“”Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?””
It appears there are a number of us...or we wouldn’t have tears in our eyes going to these links and listening to her singing...fabulous! We lived in rough times but very innocent times. Our country and troops meant everything to us! Does anyone remember dissension during the ‘40’s that is so prevalent today - citizens attacking our president - downright nastiness. It’s truly sickening to see how things have changed and not for the good! Patriotic parades on Memorial Day, 4th of July, scrap drives....As kids always going to bed the night before a holiday praying that it didn’t rain the next day!!!
I know what you mean...I lived through the Golden ‘50’s too.
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