Bill Moeller Commentary: How That Nightingale Could Sing!

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Before I got sidetracked a couple of weeks ago I started to write a column about one of the great contributors to victory in WWII who died late last month at the age of 103. First of all, let me acknowledge that if you were old enough to listen to radio during that period of war time, you’ve been collecting Social Security for more than just a few months.

As many of you have already guessed I’m referring to the British singer, Vera Lynn. Those who do remember her most likely consider her nearly as important as Winston Churchill for Great Britain’s ability to hang in there during the early days of WWII. While Winston handled the military activities, she kept hope alive through singing songs of love, courage and — most important — confidence that some day Bluebirds really would once again fly “Over the White Cliffs of Dover.”  When she sang, “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,” you knew in your heart it would, indeed, happen “some sunny day.”  When she reinforced the belief that a nightingale would sing in Berkeley Square, you started listening for it to happen. 

Her singing displayed a quality of resilience and hope. I don’t believe any American singer could compare with that quality except, perhaps, our own Kate Smith in the middle of the 30s when she introduced an Irving Berlin song, “God Bless America” to a radio audience. I was going to say that both Vera and Kate exhibited power in their singing but I think another — more appropriate — word would be strength.

I went online to watch a clip of Ms. Lynn singing to a huge crowd of soldiers during WWII and, when she sang, “We’ll Meet Again” there were few soldiers who didn’t join her. After the war, when the soldiers and sailors returned to help rebuild the extensive damage and destruction — which we, on this side of the ocean escaped — she kept singing. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1976 and never stopped recording. Wikipedia lists 20 albums released.

An almost unbelievable event occurred in 1949 when her recording of Germany’s most popular wartime song, “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” became the first song by a British performer to reach the top of America’s charts! And in 2009 — at the age of 92 — she became the oldest living artist to top the British Album chart — outselling even The Beatles! She was given many honors. She was named a Companion of Honor in 2016. She was made a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire in either 1969 or 1975. Different news items are responsible for the different dates.

Her career had an early start. She was performing in local clubs when she was 7 and abandoned school for a career as a dancer and singer at the age of 11! She was a soloist with a number of bands by the time she reached the age of 16. She volunteered for war work but was told her greatest service would be as an entertainer and by 1939 was voted by servicemen as their favorite singer. She married a musician, Harry Lewis, who became her manager until his death six decades later.



There are many who say that her style of music became “dated” but she still had admirers among many of the musicians of a different style of music. Would you believe that Ringo Starr played the tambourine in her recording of “Don’t You Remember When” in 1976!

 

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.