Weekend Meet Again Music

Our choice for weekend music makes note of the passing of a World War II homefront icon, singer Dame Vera Lynn, who passed away June 18 at the age of 103.  As much as the Andrews Sisters or Glenn Miller were popular with service members here, Dame Vera was their equal in the UK (dubbed British "Forces' Sweetheart") and Europe.  Her classic songs, "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover," "There'll Always Be An England," and "We'll Meet Again" also became big hits in America and with our troops -- in fact, she was the first British artist to make it to the top of American music charts.  So beloved was she that, in 2009 at the age of 92, a reissued album of her greatest hits was released, and it went to #1 on the British pop charts.

1939's "We'll Meet Again" is, to us, her iconic song, a wistful yet hopeful pledge that people parted by war will "meet again some sunny day."  Some of you film buffs will recognize it as the fade out song in the 1964 Stanley Kubrick movie "Dr. Strangelove" (which in turn inspired The Byrds to do a cover on their "Mr. Tambourine Man" album in 1965). 

Another witness to that era, gone.  RIP.