Remembrance Day

Come let us go down lovers lane
Once more to sing love’s own refrain
Though we must say auf wiedersehen
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

Here in your arms I can’t remain, 
So let me kiss you once again
Soon we must say auf wiedersehen
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

Your love will cling to me
Through the lonely daytime
Each night will bring to me
The magic memory of May-time

I know my heart won’t beat again
Until the day we meet again
Sweetheart, goodbye, auf wiedersehen, 
Auf wiedersehen, my dear

1932

Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
With our one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer

What a show, what a sight
We really hit our target for tonight

How we sing as we limp through the air
Look below, there’s our field over there
With our full crew on board
And our trust in the Lord
We’re comin’ in on a wing and a prayer

1943

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
Till I come marching home

Don’t go walking down Lover’s Lane with anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Don’t go walking down Lover’s Lane with anyone else but me
Till I come marching home

Marion Hutton:
Don’t give out with those lips of yours to anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me No! No! No!
Watch the girls on the foreign shores, you’ll have to report to me
When you come marching home

Don’t hold anyone on your knee, you better be true to me
You better be true to me, you better be true to me
Don’t hold anyone on your knee, you’re getting the third degree
When you come marching home

 1942

Keep the Home fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning.
Though your lads are far away
They dream of Home.

There’s a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining.
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come Home.

 1914

Kiss me goodnight, Sergeant-Major
Tuck me in my little wooden bed

We all love you, Sergeant-Major 
When we hear you bawling, “Show a leg!”

Don’t forget to wake me in the morning
And bring me ’round a nice hot cup of tea

Kiss me goodnight Sergeant-Major
Sergeant-major, be a mother to me

1939 

Underneath the lantern, by the barrack gate,
Darling I remember the way you used to wait.
‘Twas there that you whispered tenderly,
That you loved me, you’d always be,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Time would come for roll call, Time for us to part,
Darling I’d caress you and press you to my heart,
And there ‘neath that far off lantern light,
I’d hold you tight, We’d kiss good-night,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Orders came for sailing somewhere over there,
All confined to barracks was more than I could bear;
I knew you were waiting in the street,
I heard your feet, But could not meet,
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

Resting in a billet, just behind the line,
Even tho’we’re parted, your lips are close to mine.
You wait where that lantern softly gleams.
Your sweet face seems to haunt my dreams.
My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

German poem 1915; German song 1938; English song 1942

There’s a window light a-burning
For someone out there
There’s a heart that’s ever yearning
And a head bowed down in prayer

There’s a loving hand to guide you
Where ever you may roam
Back again to Peaceful Valley
On the road to home sweet home.

1917

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
and smile, smile, smile!

While you´ve a lucifer to light your fag
Smile, boys, that´s the style!

What´s the use worrying?
It never was worth while

So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
and smile, smile, smile!

1915 

Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knees
But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back

There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

Sam Stone’s welcome home
Didn’t last too long
He went to work when he’d spent his last dime
And Sam, he took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime
And the gold roared through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose
While the kids ran around wearin’ other peoples’ clothes

There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
There was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the GI bill
For a flag-draped casket on a local hero’s hill

There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

1971

Till then, my darling, please wait for me
Till then, no matter when it will be
Some day, I know I’ll be back again
Please wait, till then

Our dreams will live though we are apart
Our love, I know it’ll keep in our hearts
Till then, when of the world will be free
Please wait for me

Although there are oceans we must cross
And mountains that we must climb
I know every gain must have a loss
So pray that our loss is nothing but time

Till then, let’s dream of what there will be
Till then, we’ll call on each memory
Till then, when I will hold you again
Please wait till then

1944

Smile the while you kiss me sad adieu
When the clouds roll by I’ll come to you
Then the skies will seem more blue
Down in Lover’s Lane, my dearie

Wedding bells will ring so merrily
Ev’ry tear will be a memory
So wait and pray each night for me
Till we meet again

1918

We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when
But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through, just like you always do
Till the blue skies chase the dark clouds far away

Now won’t you please say Hello to the folks that I know
Tell them it won’t be long
They’ll be happy to know that when you saw me go
I was singing this song:

We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when
But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.

1939

There’ll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

There’ll be love and laughter,
And peace ever after,
Tomorrow when the world is free.

The shepherd will flock his sheep,
The valley will bloom again.
And Cliffy will go to sleep
In his own little room again.

There’ll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

1941