There'll Always Be an England
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There'll always be an England is an English patriotic song, written and distributed in 1940 and highly popular throughout World War II. It was composed and written by Ross Parker & Harry Par-Davies. The words were written by Hugh Charles, and the most popular version was sung by Vera Lynn.
The words reflect the actual situation at the time of writing, when most of Europe was under Nazi occupation and Britain stood alone, and the possibility of England being free for "always" (or even for the coming year) was far from self-evident. The outlying parts of the British Empire - and especially such dominions as Canada, Australia and New Zealand - seemed the only base of support on which Britain could rely, with the United States still neutral and the Soviet Union holding to its 1939 Non-Agression Pact with Germany.
The repetition of "England shall be free" can be considered a repharising of the famous "Britons never, never, never shall be slaves" in Rule Brittania - a song already two centuries old at the time of writing. But under the considerations of clear and manifest danger in late 1940, the British public was evidently willing to enthusiastically embrace such grossly martial images as "A million marching feet", absent from earlier patriotic songs written under less perilous circumstances.
A version of this song was sung by Tiny Tim at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.
At present the song - and its name, used as a political slogan - are used in various political contexts:
- By extreme-right groups, which sometimes interpret it, counter to the original meaning, as England being "free" of non-European immigrants;
- By groups opposed to deeper British involvement in the European Union, for example those wishing to continue retaining the pound sterling as a separate currency;
- By groups in England feeling threatened by Scottish and Welsh devolution.
[edit] Words
- I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen.
- I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen.
- May this fair dear land we love so well
- In dignity and freedom dwell.
- Though worlds may change and go awry
- While there is still one voice to cry - - -
- There'll always be an England
- While there's a country lane,
- Wherever there's a cottage small
- Beside a field of grain.
- There'll always be an England
- While there's a busy street,
- Wherever there's a turning wheel,
- A million marching feet.
- Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you?
- Surely you're proud, shout it aloud,
- "Britons, awake!"
- The empire too, we can depend on you.
- Freedom remains. These are the chains
- Nothing can break.
- There'll always be an England,
- And England shall be free
- If England means as much to you
- As England means to me.
