Postwar songs with WW2 references.

WW1 Siouxsie and The Banshees, Poppy Day from the album Join Hands, and according to Wiki the album is inspired by WW1

 

This song from a recently released album from NZ quotes the songwriter's father's memoir(?) of the war. Evidently he was a gunner. (The songwriter, Tim Finn, was one of the leads of Split Enz in the 70s and 80s.)

I should note this is pretty grim.

 

Dave just picked this up. A superb piece of music by R.R, known as "Under the Southern Cross"
I watched the the two series, Victory in the Air (I think it was entitled) and Victory at Sea in the late 1950s but have not been able to trace DVD copies, the ones available are not the same documentaries.

R R's music had lyrics added to it and Ronnie Hilton, a Leeds singer had the song in the British hit parade as "No Other Love Have I". Of course his version did not reach the acclaim of the US singers such as Perry Como.

As regards wartime songs Doris Day recorded Sentimental Journey towards the end of the war....remember it well on the BBC Light Programme....BBC, a source of news of the war and entertainment.

 

Debatable:
Year of the Cat, Al Stewart
"On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime"

This lyric is a reference the great movie Casablanca.

 

Here is one from Macca. More WW2 style than lyrics referring to the war, however, Macca's wanders past a nice collection of WW2 vehicles including a NAAFI van.

Not sure what was going on with his uniform

 

A World War One song by STING from his album " Dream of the Blue Turtles"...

It's a very evocative number called "Children's Crusade"..

The chorus is so antiwar..

The children of England
Could never be slaves
They're trapped on the wire..
And dying in waves..
The flower of England
Face down in the mud
Stained in the blood
Of a whole
Generation

The whole album was quality personified.
Check it out if you haven't already, and also look for a cover of an old Police track called Shadows In The Rain...

Woke up in my clothes again this morning
Don't know exactly where I am
I should heed my doctor's warning
He does the best with me he can..
He claims I suffer from delusions
I'm so confident I'm sane..
It can't be an optical illusion..
Outside my window pane
Shadows in the rain

 

The Police also do another antiwar track from their album "Zenyatta Mondatta"
It's called Bombs Away.

Quite a catchy track.

 

Also, on the WW1 theme, Paul McCartney had a title track off his album "Pipes Of Peace" which featured a video depicting the Christmas Truce of 1914 with McCartney digitally shaking hands with himself.

I don't know whether the video is on YouTube but if you are interested please take a look

 

And from the same Sting album Dream of the Blue Turtles, the ultimate antiwar number from him...RUSSIANS...with a middle eight borrowed from Sergei Prokofiev, and shattering lines that spell it out for all to hear...

How can I save my little boy..
From Oppenheimer's deadly toy...

Or...

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war..
It's a lie we don't believe anymore'
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you..
I hope the Russians love their children too..

Sock it too them Gordon Sumner!

Someone should play this song to Mr Putin at the moment

 

Flower of Scotland the Corries.
Thinking of the guys of 11 (Scottish) Commando, (now in the SAS).
Sitting in the Desert singing their folk songs. (Probably not this one but a good song anyway).
I like folk music. (Got kicked out of the Folk House in Cobh Co Cork in 1969 with my Irish mate for singing
The Merry Plough Boy).
We sang it in England but in Ireland it was Banned!

Back to Scotland saw these live in a pub while working in Scotland. ROUSING!

 

I think Gill does this song better than Elvis.

 

Hmm Proscribed German Neo Nazi punk band Landser had a series of songs referring to the Second World War. (The band's original name was Entlosing- Final Solution

Sturmführer SS was a song of praise to Grandad's war service..

Polacken Tango included lyrics to the effect that we smashed your army in two weeks and the Danzig will be German again..

Most of their songs have been banned from You tube etc.

 

Blimey, truly a band in search of an encore!

It's crazy to say this in the 21st century (who'd've thought they'd still be hanging around like a bad smell) but - I do so despise Nazis.

 

Understandable, but, of course, it might have been thought that you were taking the Michael as perhaps you could have been singing that traditional Redcoat recruiting song,'The Scarlet and the Blue,' a more recent rendition at:

or


I expect a kinsman sang it from time to time when he was on garrison duties in SW Ireland in the early 1750's.

He may well have sung 'Ein Schifflein sah ich fahren' (perhaps known as 'Nimm das Madel bei der Hand') and others too (Jäger aus Kurpfalz?), when campaigning with 'our Green Yeagers' in another place.

That's catchy tunes for you.

 

Sort of got sidetracked earlier. German master at school (INT CORPS WW2) was quite enlightened and used to bring German pop songs for us to transcribe and translate in class. Remember 'Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht' by Drafi Deutscher and 'Theo, wir fahr'n nach Lodz' by Vicki Leandros, amongst others.

Always thought the latter was a curious theme, given the quite recent history of Łódź, although by the 1960s it had become a centre for drama and cinema. That as it be:

..... Komm' mit, die Pferde warten schon
Steig' ein und sei mein Postillion
Theo, wir fahren nach Lodz

Mmm.

Going back to the start of the topic, I thought it nicely coincidental that Von Poop's thread starter cited Pink Floyd, mindful that Norman 'Hurricane' Smith produced some of their early albums. Member geoff501 asked about him quite some time ago:
Norman (Hurricane) Smith
and I remember coming across something that I'll add, which subject matter experts may be able to give more flesh to.

 

Saxons new song "Dambusters"

 

I'm a massive Waterboys fan and this is SUCH a good song.

 

When I thought U2 ruled the world till Bono got too far up his own arse.