VERA LYNN - THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER

THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER

VERA LYNN

SONGWRITERS: NAT BURTON & WALTER KENT

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER

LABEL: DECCA RECORDS

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1962

 

        Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (née Welch; 20 March 1917–18 June 2020) was an English singer, songwriter and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during the Second World War. She was widely referred to as the "Forces' Sweetheart" and gave outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".

           She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" and her UK number-one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the compilation album We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn. In 2014, she released the collection Vera Lynn: National Treasure and in 2017, she released Vera Lynn 100, a compilation album of hits to commemorate her centenary—it was a No. 3 hit, making her the first centenarian performer to have a Top 10 album in the charts. By the time of her death in 2020 she had been active in the music industry for 96 years.

             Lynn devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.

            "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" is a popular World War II song composed in 1941 by Walter Kent to lyrics by Nat Burton. Made famous in Vera Lynn's 1942 version, it was one of Lynn's best-known recordings and among the most popular World War II tunes.

             The song was written about a year after the Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe aircraft had been fighting over southern England, including the white cliffs of Dover, in the Battle of Britain. Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe and in 1941 was still bombing Britain. With neither America nor the Soviet Union having yet joined the war, Britain was the only major power fighting the Axis powers in Europe (see The Darkest Hour). The American lyricist, Nat Burton, wrote his lyric (unaware that the bluebird is not indigenous to Britain) and asked Kent to set it to music. Notable phrases include "Thumbs Up!" which was an RAF and RCAF term for permission to go, and "flying in those angry skies" where the air war was taking place.

          The lyrics looked toward a time when the war would be over, and peace would rule over the iconic white cliffs, Britain's symbolic border with the European mainland.

There'll be blue birds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow

Just you wait and see

 

I'll never forget the people I met

Braving those angry skies

I remember well as the shadows fell

The light of hope in their eyes

 

And though I'm far Away

I still can hear them say

Bombs up

But when the dawn comes up

 

There'll be blue birds 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 tend his sheep

The valley will bloom again

And Jimmy will go to sleep

In his own little room again

 

There'll be blue birds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow

Just you wait and see

 

There'll be blue birds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow

Just you wait and see.