Lili Marleen

(Lale Andersen singing in German)

Vor der Kaserne, vor dem grossen Tor,
Stand eine Laterne und steht sie noch davor.
So wollen wir uns da wiedersehn,
Bei der Laterne wolln wir stehn,
Wie einst Lili Marleen, wie einst Lili Marleen.

Unsre beiden Schatten, sahn wie einer aus,
Dass wir so lieb uns hatten, dass sah man
gleich daraus.
Und alle Leute solln es sehn,
Wenn wir bei der Laterne stehn,
Wie einst Lili Marleen, wie einst Lili Marleen.

Schon rief der Posten: "Sie blasen
Zapfenstreich!
Es kann drei Tage kosten!" -- " Kamerad, ich
komm' ja gleich!"
Da sagten wir auf Wiedersehn,
Wie gerne würd' ich mit dir gehn,
Mit dir, Lili Marleen, mit dir, Lili Marleen.

Deine Schritte kennt sie, deinen schönen Gang.
Alle Abend brennt sie, doch mich vergass sie lang.
Und sollte mir ein Leids geschehn,
Wer wird bei der Laterne stehn,
Mit dir, Lili Marleen, mit dir, Lili Marleen?

Aus dem stillen Raume, aus der Erde Grund,
Hebt mich wie im Traume dein verliebter Mund.
Wenn sich die späten Nebel drehn,
Werd'  ich bei der Laterne stehn,
Wie einst Lili Marleen, wie einst Lili Marleen.


Based on a German poem of 1915, this song became a favorite of both German and American troops during the Second World War, both in English and in the original German.
    A curious example of a song transcending the hatreds of war, American troops particularly liked Lili Marlene as sung by the German-born actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich.
    The song first went on the air in the summer of 1941 through Radio Belgrad. It really was the British in North Africa who adopted the song and made it popular among the Allies. Marlene Dietrich, who always knew a good thing when she saw it, simply jumped on the band wagon and cashed in on it after the Americans arrived in North Africa in 1943. Or perhaps it was an idea of the OWI (U.S. propaganda agency) with the aim of stealing the Germans' thunder and making the song sound like an American one. The English version of the song, whoever wrote it, is a somewhat fanciful and embellished translation of the German original -- both versions of course only inches away from pure Kitsch!
    "Lili Marleen" was particularly popular with the men in Rommel's Afrikakorps. It was played over and over again on its own radio station in Tripoli, which of course could also be picked up by the guys in the British 8th Army. Much to the discomfiture of Generals Auchinleck and Montgomery, they liked that "Nazi song" so much that they kept humming and whistling it all over the North African desert. After the war, the song's fame was perpetuated by Vera Lynn who sang it in every NAAFI concert she gave for British BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) soldiers stationed in pre-NATO Germany, to thunderous applause and stomping feet.