Music was, as it often is, a comfort and escape for everyone during WWII. The Dough Boys of WWI had their songs, and with the advent of 78 rpm records and the availability of radios, Americans and Europeans during the 1940's enjoyed a rich variety of music, much of which would ever after be associated with that era from 1940- 1945. BILLBOARD MAGAZINE had one of the most important charts to measure the popularity of musical recordings, and I was able to find some of those on YouTube for the years 1942- 1945, when my dad was in the army.
For 1942, there were several songs that managed to stay # 1 for several weeks at a time. "I've Got a Girl in Kalamazoo" performed by Glenn Miller , Tex Beneke, and the Modernaires I have already posted in a previous post with a YouTube link. It topped the charts for eight weeks that year. Then there was "The White Cliffs of Dover," which Vera Lynn in England had made popular. Kay Kyser and his orchestra put it as # 1 on American charts, and here is the link to hear that recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
For 1943 there were four hits that were all at one time or another that year #1 on popularity music charts. The first of those was "Moonlight Becomes You" by Bing Crosby. Here is a link to the scene in which Crosby sings the song from the movie ROAD TO MOROCCO with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The same year the Mills Brothers scored a # 1 hit in their song, "Paper Doll," which I still enjoy in Woody Allen's film, RADIO DAYS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Al Dexter's version of "Pistol Packin' Mama" reached # 1 for several weeks in '43 too. Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters did the song also, but their verson never made it to #1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
A song that touched people deeply in 1943 and made the #1 song for a while was "When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World" by Vaughn Monroe. The lyric speaks of hope for a better time after the long ravages of war and sacrifice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
1944 brought "Don't Fence Me In" by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters as a number #1 song, which I think was especially American in its lyric:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
"I'll Get By" by Harry James and his orchestra was also a number #1 song that year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Finally, for 1944, we find Bing Crosby with another #1 hit in his "Swinging on a Star"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
1945 would see the end of the war, and the top songs that year were varied in their inclusion of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," which must have touched soldiers far away from home the way, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" had done. It is a song that can easily bring tears when you think of all those men and women so far from home, longing to see the ones they loved and to enjoy the traditions that so deeply imbedded in tradition and family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Andrews Sisters were often on the charts for #1 songs, and this one, "Rum & Coca Cola" from 1945 was one of Dad's favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/
The Pied Pipers were # 1 for a while with this song called, "Dream," a perfect theme for all those who were yearning for the war to end and for peace to come again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford made this 1945 hit, "Candy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Another iconic piece of American music from WWII is this great song that later in the 1973 Bette Midler would do again and bring it back to high popularity.
It was introduced by the Andrews Sisters in the 1941 film BUCK PRIVATES with Abbott and Costello. Though I don't think the song ever achieved #1 status on musical charts, it still speaks of the energy and optimism of our soldiers during World War II, so I couldn't make a list of pop music from that time without including it as one of my personal favorites and one that my parents loved too.
"The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
JB
For 1942, there were several songs that managed to stay # 1 for several weeks at a time. "I've Got a Girl in Kalamazoo" performed by Glenn Miller , Tex Beneke, and the Modernaires I have already posted in a previous post with a YouTube link. It topped the charts for eight weeks that year. Then there was "The White Cliffs of Dover," which Vera Lynn in England had made popular. Kay Kyser and his orchestra put it as # 1 on American charts, and here is the link to hear that recording:http://www.youtube.com/watch?
For 1943 there were four hits that were all at one time or another that year #1 on popularity music charts. The first of those was "Moonlight Becomes You" by Bing Crosby. Here is a link to the scene in which Crosby sings the song from the movie ROAD TO MOROCCO with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The same year the Mills Brothers scored a # 1 hit in their song, "Paper Doll," which I still enjoy in Woody Allen's film, RADIO DAYS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Al Dexter's version of "Pistol Packin' Mama" reached # 1 for several weeks in '43 too. Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters did the song also, but their verson never made it to #1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
A song that touched people deeply in 1943 and made the #1 song for a while was "When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World" by Vaughn Monroe. The lyric speaks of hope for a better time after the long ravages of war and sacrifice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
"I'll Get By" by Harry James and his orchestra was also a number #1 song that year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Finally, for 1944, we find Bing Crosby with another #1 hit in his "Swinging on a Star"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
1945 would see the end of the war, and the top songs that year were varied in their inclusion of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," which must have touched soldiers far away from home the way, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" had done. It is a song that can easily bring tears when you think of all those men and women so far from home, longing to see the ones they loved and to enjoy the traditions that so deeply imbedded in tradition and family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Andrews Sisters were often on the charts for #1 songs, and this one, "Rum & Coca Cola" from 1945 was one of Dad's favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/
The Pied Pipers were # 1 for a while with this song called, "Dream," a perfect theme for all those who were yearning for the war to end and for peace to come again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford made this 1945 hit, "Candy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Another iconic piece of American music from WWII is this great song that later in the 1973 Bette Midler would do again and bring it back to high popularity.
It was introduced by the Andrews Sisters in the 1941 film BUCK PRIVATES with Abbott and Costello. Though I don't think the song ever achieved #1 status on musical charts, it still speaks of the energy and optimism of our soldiers during World War II, so I couldn't make a list of pop music from that time without including it as one of my personal favorites and one that my parents loved too.
"The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
JB
