The song was made most famous by Vera Lynn and sung to troops during the war. I hear mother pray, and to her baby say "Don't cry," Twilight falling down on some little town When night shadows fall, I'll always recall out there across the sea I remember well as the shadows fell, the light of hope in their eyes.Īnd tho' I'm far away, I can still hear them say "Thumbs Up!"įor when the dawn comes up. I'll never forget the people I met braving those angry skies. The full song includes two verses rarely found in recordings: The lyrics looked toward a time when the war would be over, and peace would rule over the iconic white cliffs, Britain's symbolic border with the European mainland. Notable phrases include "Thumbs Up!" which was an RAF and RCAF term for permission to go, and "flying in those angry skies" where the air war was taking place. The American lyricist, Nat Burton, wrote his lyric (unaware that the bluebird is not indigenous to Britain) and asked Kent to set it to music. With neither America nor the Soviet Union having yet joined the war, Britain was the only major power fighting the Axis powers in Europe (see The Darkest Hour). Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe and in 1941 was still bombing Britain. The song was written about a year after the Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe aircraft had been fighting over southern England, including the white cliffs of Dover, in the Battle of Britain.
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