"VE Day 80" adaptation by The Marsh Family of "White Cliffs of Dover" & "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

Описание: This is dedicated to all those who served and suffered during WW2, including the kids' Great-Grandad, Arthur 'Sandy' Sandison, who joined the RAF and trained and instructed in the USA under the Arnold Scheme, before completing a tour in Lancasters (619 Squadron Leader), with Australians and Canadians among his crew. He was the first Shetlander to be awarded the DFC in 1944. His squadron and its experiences were the subject of a report titled "Orchestrated Hell" by American war correspondent Ed Murrow in winter 1943 - https://www.americanrhetoric.com/spee....

Great-Grandad subsequently became an RAF instructor, and in the spring of 1945 was Commanding Officer of the Bomber Command Film Flight Unit, and briefly Flight Commander with 49th Squadron, before the war ended and he joined BOAC. According to an amazing archive compiled and shared by our aunt (thanks Terri!), he wrote upon 'posting out' that "You probably won't realise what it means to have your crew split up. We had been living, eating, and working together for so long, and we had gone through so much together with each man's life depending on the other one. I feel quite lost on my own now."

The two songs we have adapted were both among the most popular wartime tunes, with "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" written in 1941 by Walter Kent and Nat Burton, and made famous by Vera Lynn in 1942 in a bid to rally spirits. Burton was an American lyricist, which may explain the odd/wrong mention of bluebirds in Kent. In 2009, Dame Vera Lynn (aged 91) took a stand against racism and took legal action against the BNP (a far-right nationalist British party) for using her version on an anti-immigration album and anti-European platform that she did not support. Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - written by Harold Arlen (son of Lithuanian-Jewish refugees to the US) and Yip Harbur for the 1939 Wizard of Oz film - became a signature song beloved by wartime troops and citizens from many countries. We have tried to blend elements from some of its iconic versions, including Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's (Braddah IZ's) soulful ukelele (recorded in 1988) and Eva Cassidy's heart-wrenching ballad (recorded 1992).


For some material on WW2 music: https://www.classical-music.com/featu...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/...

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LYRICS

Maybe you sought closure
For wars to be over
Their horror and brutality
You beat off disaster
And eighty years after
We honour how you kept us free

The fascists you helped defeat
The Allies who shared the pain
The dream that democracy
Won’t be broken by hate again

But a truth hangs over
The White Cliffs of Dover:
That story’s getting hard to see
There’s another chapter
The dream’s being shattered
The more we forget our history

There’s fascism’s gradual creep
Alliances not maintained
Divisions are running deep
And there’s war in the news again …

[Ooohs]

Don’t care who’s wearing rainbows, suits or ties
Don’t want bans or absurd new rants about DEI
Somehow feels like a shame though: World War Two
And its sheer inhumanity turning ‘déjà vu’

Today on social media it’s ‘wokeness’ making lots of people angry
There’s claims of eating cats and dogs
And blame for others stealing jobs
There’s new look Nazis!

Somewhere over the rainbow, fools who lie
Don’t imperil the worth of liives that were sacrificed

On VE day let’s dignify the fight for peace
Without forgetting why


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THANKS SO MUCH TO PATREONS AND ESPECIALLY OUR HOWLERS:

Alyssa Sangeeta Jacobson Memorial Fund
Dorettas Dozen
Christian Schranz
Bond Starker
Peter Green
Richard Boultbee
LisaMarie Fitzpatrick
Ed Rocheck
Sandra Vernooy
Dan McColm
Douglas Lind
David Ryan
Simon Haslam
Lew
Mike Smith
Andy Riches
Cliff Hope
Carol Leff
Derrick Brown
David Patrao
Karen & Geeta
Grandad