[Dixielandjazz] Poignant songs/WW II

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 23:46:32 EDT

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Listmates,

I think it was listmate Pat Ladd, who made the connection with World War II 
with his post about "Two Sisters" within the context of the thread "Poignant 
Songs". Specifically, the bombing of Rotterdam during the second week of May 
1940. At the time, my Mom was 5 months pregnant with me, so I wasn't there. 
(Note: Rotterdam was bombed AFTER The Netherlands capitulated on May 10, 
1940, being overwhelmed by the Blitzkrieg tactics of the German Wehrmacht). 
Instead of dropping their bombs in the North Sea, the German Luftwaffe 
decided to drop them on Rotterdam anyway. 20,000 people died. Back to music. 
I am totally unfamiliar with "Two Sisters" and, if anyone on this list has a 
lead sheet/chords/lyrics available, I would greatly appreciate a copy. 
Contact me off list please.

Pat's post brought back early memories about WWII and the period immediately 
thereafter. And this gets back to poignant songs. A song that I remember very 
vividly was Vera Lynn's (a British songstress) "We'll meet again". Vera was 
the "Sweetheart of the Forces" which for us Dutch meant, especially, the 
Tommy's, i.e. the Brits. But it also became one of those universal WWII songs 
that inspired people to pick up the rubble and to provide the courage to move 
forward. These sort of things endure and become undelibly engraved on our 
memory banks.

Case in point: In, I believe 1994, the Eight Air Force (US) held its reunion 
in Chicago. These were the guys who operated out of the UK raiding the German 
industrial complex. I free-lanced for a Destination Management Company which 
organized and executed the outside entertainment events during the 
convention. On the last day I accompanied a group to the horse races at 
Arlington Park (now, sadly, closed). On the bus ride back I had to say 
goodbye to these wonderful people and suggested, over the PA of the bus, that 
we should all sing "We'll meet again".

We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But we shall meet again
Some sunny day.

Everybody knew the lyrics! Including some of the widows who had never spent a 
day in England. As I am writing this, I am totally choking up. Can it get 
more poignant than that?

Tearfully,

Rob van der Plas
Scottsdale, AZ

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<HTML>Listmates, 
 
I think it was listmate Pat Ladd, who made the connection with World War II with his post about "Two Sisters" within the context of the thread "Poignant Songs". Specifically, the bombing of Rotterdam during the second week of May 1940. At the time, my Mom was 5 months pregnant with me, so I wasn't there. (Note: Rotterdam was bombed AFTER The Netherlands capitulated on May 10, 1940, being overwhelmed by the Blitzkrieg tactics of the German Wehrmacht). Instead of dropping their bombs in the North Sea, the German Luftwaffe decided to drop them on Rotterdam anyway. 20,000 people died. Back to music. I am totally unfamiliar with "Two Sisters" and, if anyone on this list has a lead sheet/chords/lyrics available, I would greatly appreciate a copy. Contact me off list please. 
 
Pat's post brought back early memories about WWII and the period immediately thereafter. And this gets back to poignant songs. A song that I remember very vividly was Vera Lynn's (a British songstress) "We'll meet again". Vera was the "Sweetheart of the Forces" which for us Dutch meant, especially, the Tommy's, i.e. the Brits. But it also became one of those universal WWII songs that inspired people to pick up the rubble and to provide the courage to move forward. These sort of things endure and become undelibly engraved on our memory banks. 
 
Case in point: In, I believe 1994, the Eight Air Force (US) held its reunion in Chicago. These were the guys who operated out of the UK raiding the German industrial complex. I free-lanced for a Destination Management Company which organized and executed the outside entertainment events during the convention. On the last day I accompanied a group to the horse races at Arlington Park (now, sadly, closed). On the bus ride back I had to say goodbye to these wonderful people and suggested, over the PA of the bus, that we should all sing "We'll meet again". 
 
We'll meet again 
Don't know where 
Don't know when 
But we shall meet again 
Some sunny day. 
 
Everybody knew the lyrics! Including some of the widows who had never spent a day in England. As I am writing this, I am totally choking up. Can it get more poignant than that? 
 
Tearfully, 
 
Rob van der Plas 
Scottsdale, AZ 
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