Saturday 16 January 2010

We'll Meet Again

Maybe it is the rain falling, maybe it is the grey look of outside since the snow is gone, maybe it's because of the earthquake in Haiti, but I have been having We'll Meet Again in the head since this morning. Here in the UK, Dame Vera Lynn is of course an icon. For me, she simply sang that beautiful song in the closing credits of Dr. Strangelove, where I first heard it and where it was used to brilliant, cynical, pessimistic effect by Stanley Kubrick. The more I think of it, the more I think my mind has been associating it with Haiti. Sure, what happened there was not a nuclear holocaust, but it must have felt like Apocalypse all the same. The song pictures perfectly dark, difficult times where you can still feel a dim but ever present hope.

3 comments:

Gwen Buchanan said...

...it is probably better to sing than to cry... at least singing is uplifting

quedula said...

All Vera Lynn's most popular songs are sad, wistful.
"Rose of England"
"White Cliffs of Dover"
"We'll meet again"
"Its a lovely day tomorrow"
"A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square."

Something to do with the period I expect. I wonder if she selected them herself?

quedula said...

"Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye"
"I'll be seeing you . ."
etc. :)