I think I'm up.
39.17-Lili Marlene-Song
In honor of D-Day, here's a song that while written by a German, was extremely popular on both sides of the lines.
Lili Marlene was written as a poem by a German soldier during WWI and the lyrics were later published as a poem. Music was added in 1938 and it was first rcorded in 1939. The song immediately became a hit with German soldiers in the Mediterranean and the Afrika Korps, so popular in fact that Goebbels originally wanted it banned as bad for German morale. But Erwin Rommel liked it and Goebbels eventually relented. The British 8th Army would hear the song on German broadcasts and the Tommies also liked the song and it became popular amongst them, albeit with English lyrics. Once the war moved to Europe after D-Day, American troops used to sing of the girl waiting under the lamppost outside the barracks and they'd think of the loved one back in the US waiting for their safe return.
Marlene Dietrich, Perry Como, Hank Snow and others all had popular versions of the song, with Dietrich singing it in both German and English. This is a song of World War II and immediately recognizable to those who are interested in the war. Here's a link to Dietrich singing Lili Marlene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP8O8Lgjkiw...feature=related
Lyrics:
Underneath the lantern,
By the barrack gate
Darling I remember
The way you used to wait
T'was there that you whispered tenderly,
That you loved me,
You'd always be,
My Lilli of the Lamplight,
My own Lilli Marlene
Time would come for roll call,
Time for us to part,
Darling I'd caress you
And press you to my heart,
And there 'neath that far-off lantern light,
I'd hold you tight,
We'd kiss good night,
My Lilli of the Lamplight,
My own Lilli Marlene
Orders came for sailing,
Somewhere over there
All confined to barracks
was more than I could bear
I knew you were waiting in the street
I heard your feet,
But could not meet,
My Lilly of the Lamplight,
my own Lilly Marlene
Resting in our billets,
Just behind the lines
Even tho' we're parted,
Your lips are close to mine
You wait where that lantern softly gleams,
Your sweet face seems
To haunt my dreams
My Lilly of the Lamplight,
My own Lilly Marlene