We'll Meet Again

Album: We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn (1942)
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Songfacts®:

  • This sentimentally optimistic song was written in 1939 by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The most popular version was recorded three years later by The Forces Sweetheart, Vera Lynn whose morale building ballads and concerts to British tours serving overseas made her the popular British singer during the Second World War. Her recording of this song captured the mood of the British nation as it faced up to its battle for survival during the war. She recalled to the September 2009 edition of Saga Magazine: "I always tried to choose cheerful songs, that soldiers missing their wives and sweethearts could relate to. We weren't psychologists, but we understood that it was important to express the right meaning, and we put a lot of effort into getting the songs right."
  • Both this song and Vera Lynn herself are directly cited in Pink Floyd's 1979 song Vera from their album, The Wall.
  • On September 13, 2009, Dame Vera Lynn reached the top of the UK albums chart with We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn, a compilation released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the declaration of World War II. This meant that the 92-year-old became the oldest living artist to make it to #1 on the chart.

    Lynn returned to the chart in March 2017 at age 100 when her greatest hits compilation 100 went to #3. In May 2020, that album reentered the tally at #30 following the 75th anniversary VE Day celebrations. She was 103 at the time.

    Dame Vera's chart history dates back to 1952, when she had three songs on the first-ever singles chart.
  • On April 5, 2020, Queen Elizabeth II made a rare televised address to support the British people during the coronavirus pandemic. She expressed her gratitude for the efforts people are taking to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, adding that although self-isolation is difficult, better days will return and "we will meet again."

    The Queen's reference to the patriotic World War II song spurred several covers, including one by Mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins with Vera Lynn. They'd first sung the song together in London on the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in 2005. The pair released their version on iTunes as a benefit for the NHS Charities Together; it reached #55 on the UK singles chart.

Comments: 5

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: www.legacy.com {06-19-2020}...
    Vera Lynn died at her home in Sussex, England on June 18th, 2020 at the age of 103...
    Born Vera Margaret Welch in London March 20, 1917, she took her grandmother’s last name, Lynn, when she began her performing career. That career was at its height during World War II, when her sweetly sentimental songs touched the hearts of servicemen and folks on the home front alike...
    Lynn’s song “We’ll Meet Again” was released in 1939 and came to represent the bond between soldiers and their families for many in England and beyond. “White Cliffs of Dover” was another wartime hit, as was “There’ll Always Be an England.” The popularity of these hits led English service members to vote Lynn as their favorite musician in a 1939 poll, leading to her nickname the Forces’ Sweetheart...
    May she R.I.P.
  • Magoo from Midwest Usamy first "exposure" to her / first time hearing her name was while listening to Pink Floyd; being a Floyd geek I had to know who Roger Waters was referring to..........
  • Brian from La Mesa, CaThis song closed Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb, bringing a poignant and introspective end to that black comedy. As of this writing (Nov 2019), Vera Lynn is still living in Sussex at the age of 102.
  • Teresa from Mechelen, BelgiumDame Vera Lynn a great lady, beautiful songs. I have the album released in 2009 and it will always be a joy for me listening to Vera Lynn. These songs are everlasting.
  • Zabadak from London, EnglandAlso parodied by ex-Traffic man, Jim Capaldi, as Whale Meat Again for an LP title!
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