Vera Lynn and the Cheerful Resilience of “We’Ll Meet Again”

Vera Lynn and the Cheerful Resilience of “We’ll Meet Again”

Tinged with the poignancy of separation and buoyed by its sense of hope and optimism, “We’ll Meet Again” was composed by British songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles in 1939, its melody loosely based on Anton Rubinstein’s Melody in F.

British singer Vera Lynn had found “We’ll Meet Again” while shopping around the music publishing companies in London for new material. Resonating with soldiers who were off to fight, as well as their families and sweethearts, the song became Lynn’s signature song, as well as one of the most famous of the WWII era.

The original 1939 recording featured Lynn accompanied on a Novachord, the first polyphonic synthesizer. The song gave its name to the 1943 musical film, We’ll Meet Again, in which Lynn played the lead role.

Lynn’s wartime contributions began when she would sing to people who were using London’s tube station platform as air raid shelters. Lynn recorded music for the troops and became a fixture on the radio with her program, “Sincerely Yours.” More than 20% of the British public tuned into her Sunday night shows, as she performed songs and read letters from people separated by war.

Said the singer, “Although we did the programme from a studio, I always tried to imagine myself singing and talking from my own home, addressing myself not to an audience in the traditional sense, but to scattered individuals....”

Post-war, a 1953 rerecording featured Lynn, once again, with a more lavish instrumentation and a chorus of British Armed Forces personnel. This 1953 recording has made subsequent appearances in movies and on television, including Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove and in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television series, The Singing Detective.

Lynn made her final vocal appearance in 2005 and sang the song in London on the 60th anniversary of VE Day. (Please click here to watch a video of Dame Vera’s 1995 VE performance of “We’ll Meet Again” in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of VE Day.)

The song’s message of cheerful resilience was invoked by Queen Elizabeth II during the initial days of COVID-19 lockdown. In her television address, she expressed gratitude for the efforts that people were taking to mitigate the pandemic and acknowledged the challenges faced by people across the world. She told the nation, “We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”

In a similar vein, after 15 months of separation from friends, family, and in-person music, the City Choir of Washington presents this song, recorded in our own homes, as we look ahead, with great optimism and hope, to meet again and sing to traditional, live audiences in the 2021-2022 season!