I pretty sure most people have heard the song “Lili Marleen” in one variant or another. If so what did you think of it?
My mother was a Vera Lynn fan, so that was the version I heard first. I liked to read about the backgrounds of singers and songs, and around that time, Vera Lynn did a lot of concerts in Canada, so information wasn’t really hard to find at all, and I was even lucky enough to find a few of her albums. Even back then I had ecclectic tastes in music, and was totally into history, and this lady was not only “The Forces’ Sweetheart”, she also played a huge role in keeping morale up during the war, not only with Lili Marlene, but also with such songs as “White Cliffs of Dover”, “When the Lights Go On Again” and “There’ll Always Be An England”. It was also interesting to find out that the song was enjoyed by soldiers on both sides of World War II, having originally been a German song that was “adopted” by the Allies.
A few years later, I found out about the Marlene Dietrich version. I thought it was okay, but not as good as Vera Lynn’s. Lynn had a prettier voice, although it seemed to me that Dietrich’s version was likely closer to the original German version lyrically.
It wasn’t until about ten years ago, thanks to the internet, that I was finally able to hear the original version by Lale Andersen, which I rank up there evenly with Vera Lynn’s version, because they were both the “original” versions for their respective sides.
I think of the comment in “War and Remembrance” by the Philip Rule character (Ian McShane) that it is the only good song to come out of the war. And then I think of Tom Lehrer’s comment that if any good songs are going to come out of World War III, we better start writing them now.
My German teacher gave us a hand-typed songbook and we sang in German. By the time I was a senior there were only three students and I was the only girl. So there were the four of us singing Lili Marlene auf Deutsch. I still have the book, too.
I like Dietrich’s version the best, but since I’ve known it since I was 5, whereas I didn’t hear Vera Lynn’s or Lale Andersen’s versions till they showed up on youtube, that’s not surprising.
I do think that the verse Dietrich added about marching with the pack, etc., sounds a little hokey now. Since it was her intent to rally the troops, though, I assume it was considered successful at the time.
Cartoonist Bill Mauldin, in his book Up Front, tells how the Germans killed the song for a lot of people.
I have it in both the english and german versions by Marlene Dietrich in my regular shuffle.
Lili Marlene, by the way =)
Though properly it is Leid eins Jungen Watchposten - song of the young sentry.
No, it’s “Lili Marleen”, at least in the German original. And though “Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht” was the main source, it’s not quite the same song.
Here is a side with pretty accurate information about the song and its origins, written in German and English.
all the bar singers never had a problem with song of the young sentry =) I always ended up hearing Lili Marlene =)
Ah, bar, you should have mentioned the location earlier - now it makes sense.
If you insist on Marlene, well, who am I to take it away from you? But shouldn’t it then be Lily? 
Sorry to hijack, but I’m curious about this claim. There were lots of good songs to come out of WWII - “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To”, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, “God Bless America”, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”, “This Is The Army” off the top of my head.
Ah, but don’t forget – Philip Rule was British, and so would have been speaking from that frame of reference. He probably wouldn’t have known much of the songs you mention because they are American, and I doubt that, with the exception of This Is the Army, none of the others would have been covered by Brit singers.
Thanks for posting this Curtis. My mom told me she was inspired by this song when she named me Lisa Marlene. I never thought to look it up or listen to it, till now.
More good songs from WWII:
GI Jive
Hang out the Washing on the Ziegfried Line
I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen
Rosie the Riveter
We’ll Meet Again
White Cliffs of Dover
When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World)
Of course, the value of some of these songs is highly contextual. Lili Marlene was, I believe, an old song from the German folk tradition.
Soldiers in the Italian campaign sang of being “the D-Day Dodgers in sunny Italy” to the tune of Lili Marleen.
Some adds (from the VI Corps Music of WWII Songlist):[ul]
[li] American Patrol[/li][li] As Time Goes By (after, of course, Casablanca came out)[/li][li] Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to trhe Bar[/li][li] Comin’ In on a Wing and a Prayer[/li][li] I’ll Be Seeing you[/li][li] Kalamazoo[/li][li] The Last Time I Saw Paris[/li][li] In the ood[/li][li] Moonlight Serenade[/li][li] Over the Rainbow[/li][li] PEnnsylvania 6-5000[/li][li] Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition[/li][li] Stardust[/li][li] Thanks for the Memory[/li][li] Tuxedo Junction’[/li] Where or When[/ul]
One of Mauldin’s best (IMHO) cartoons featured Willie and Joe bundled up in a foxhole, and Joe is playing a harmonica. Willie remarks “The Krauts ain’t followin’ ya so good on ‘Lili Marlene’ tonight, Joe. Somthin’ must’ve happened to their tenor.”
Very poignant.