We'll Meet Again

"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song made famous by British singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by Ross Parker (born Albert Rostron Parker, 16 August 1914 in Manchester) & Hugh Charles (born Charles Hugh Owen Ferry, 24 July 1907 in Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire).

The song is one of the most famous songs of the Second World War era, and resonated with soldiers going off to fight and their families and sweethearts. The assertion that "we'll meet again" is optimistic, as many soldiers did not survive to see their loved ones again. Indeed, the meeting place at some unspecified time in the future would have been seen by many who lost loved ones to be heaven.

The song gave its name to the 1943 musical film We'll Meet Again in which Vera Lynn played the lead role (see 1943 in music). Lynn's recording is featured in the final scene of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, and was also used in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television serial The Singing Detective. British director John Schlesinger used the song in his 1979 WWII film, "Yanks", which is about British citizens and American soldiers during the military buildup in the U.K. as the Allies prepared for the D-Day Invasion.

During the Cold War, Vera Lynn's recording was included in the package of music and programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS), designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.^[1] Mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins reprised the song at her appearance alongside Lynn in London on the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in 2005, and has retained it as an occasional item in her repertoire.

In popular culture

• Traditionally, this song is played on May 5 as a closure to the Liberation Day Concert in Amsterdam, to mark the end of World War II in the Netherlands, as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima leave the concert on a canal boat.
• Benny Goodman covered this song with Peggy Lee in 1942.
• In the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick, the song closes out the final scenes while showing a montage of atomic explosions - a bitter irony as the world is being destroyed and there will be no one to meet anybody else.
• The Byrds recorded the song as the closing track on their debut album Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965, inspired by the song's use in the film Dr. Strangelove.
• Ruby & The Romantics released this song as a single on Kapp Records in 1965.The single did not make the charts, as the song's "B" side, "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore" received more radio airplay .
• In 1972, P. J. Proby recorded a power-ballad rendition of the song. It was released by the EMI Group as Proby's last single for his recording contract.
• Jim Capaldi recorded a brief selection of the song in 1974, which appears as a hidden track on his album Whale Meat Again.
• Pink Floyd makes reference to this song and the performer in "Vera", in a song from their album The Wall: "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?/Remember how she said that we would meet again some sunny day?". A short clip of "We'll Meet Again" can also be heard at the beginning of the first track on the Pink Floyd album Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81.
• In The Muppets Go to the Movies, the title characters, with Dudley Moore and Lily Tomlin, sing the song at the end.
• Barry Manilow covered this song on his Barry Live in Britain album.
• The song plays as part of the music loop of the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attractions at numerous Disney parks.
• The song appear on the first episode of the documentary The Beatles Anthology, during the footage of The Beatles members when they were children.
• In The Simpsons episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", Sideshow Bob whistles the song as he sets up a Cold War Era nuclear bomb in a US Airbase. The song is also used at the end of the episode "At Long Last Leave".
• The final scene of the last episode of the 1997 animated superhero comedy Freakazoid! features the cast singing this song at the Hollywood Bowl.
• Joe Henry covered the song on his 1999 album, Fuse.
• A part of the song plays at the end of the Futurama episode "A Big Piece of Garbage", when the credits are being shown.
• In the movie Hellboy, during Professor Broom's confrontation with Rasputin, a recording of Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" plays in the background (according to the closed-captioning).
• Jim Keats sings the song in the series finale of Ashes to Ashes.
• Johnny Cash covered this song in his 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around and is used in the beginning of the 2010 remake of The Crazies.
• Early in the movie The Ides of March, Bob Mervak is briefly shown singing the song at Cliff Bell’s, a Detroit jazz club.^[2]
• On her last radio show, NPR host Liane Hansen quoted the song in her farewell address to listeners.^[3]
• German actress Franka Potente sings this song in the movie "The Sinking of the Laconia" (2011).
• Episode 4 of the 5th season of HBO's True Blood is entitled "We'll Meet Again". A cover of the song plays during the end credits.
• In the week of The Rovers Return Inn fire on Coronation Street in 2013, Rita Sullivan, Dennis Tanner and Emily Bishop sing this song before the fire breaks out next episode.
• In the popular underground series, Salad Fingers, created by animator David Firth, the song is referenced at the end of the seventh episode entitled, "Shore Leave."
• Actress Evelyn Rei In the movie, Second World War Meet Again uses the song We'll Meet Again A cover, sang by actress Evelyn Rei. Famous Footballer Chris Todd plays the role of Thomas and singer Keedie Green set to star in the film
• Episode 9 of the 6th season of ABC's Castle (TV series) titled Disciple plays the song at the end of the episode as a way to suggest a recurring villain has returned.
• The band, My Morning Jacket plays, "We'll Meet Again," from their speakers at the end of its shows as their fans depart.

References

1. ↑ Hellen, Nicholas (1999-07-11). "Julie Andrews to sing to Brits during nuclear attack". Sunday Times. 
2. ↑ http://michiganentertainmentnetwork.com/blog/blog/2011/09/25/the-ides-of-march-news/
3. ↑ Hansen, Liane. "Farewell From Host Liane Hansen". NPR. Retrieved 24 June 2011.