There'll Be Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover

DESCRIPTION: "I'll never forget the people I met, braving the angry skies"; they have a look of hope, for "There's be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow, just you wait and see. There'll be love and laughter... when the world is free"
AUTHOR: Words: Nat Burton / Music: Walter Kent (source: sheet music)
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: separation bird reunion
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Denis Gifford (with a Foreword by Spike Milligan), _Bless 'Em All!: The World War II Songbook_, 1989 (I use the 1992 Fraser Stewart edition), pp. 69-72, "There'll Be Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover" (1 text, 1 tune, a copy of the sheet music)
RECORDINGS:
George Patrick "Paddy" Gibson, "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #44, recorded 07/21/2021)
Christine Mary C. Morris, "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #38, recorded 07/20/2021)
NOTES [176 words]: I find it ironic that, although this song will surely always be associated with Vera Lynn, the sheet music (at least, the American sheet music) has a picture of Bebe Daniels (who?) on the cover. The Wikipedia article for this song (yes, there is one) lists a number of recordings, but as of when I checked it in December 2023, didn't even mention Daniels.
To me, after "Lili Marlene" and maybe "We'll Meet Again," this is the most iconic of World War II songs, and probably a better song than the first of those at least.
Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 464, estimates that this was the most popular song in America in January 1942, and the second-most-popular song of the year (#1 for the year being "When the Lights Go On Again," which certainly hasn't held up as well!). Gardner lists recordings by Kay Kyser (Columbia 36445), Glenn Miller (Bluebird 11397), Kate Smith (Columbia 36448), Sammy Kaye (Victor 27704), and Jimmy Dorsey (Decca 4103). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RcWCODo

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