Music of the World War II Era: Answers

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Do you have a zoot suit with a reet pleat? Oh, well. Here are the answers.

Music of the World War II Era: Answers

Glenn Miller, during one of his wartime broadcasts for the BBC.

Dance to these hot tunes.

  1. There'll be bluebirds over. . . the White Cliffs of Dover.


    Tomorrow, when the world is free, as Vera Lynn sang in 1942.
  2. Somewhere over. . . the rainbow.


    You knew this one. It's from the film The Wizard of Oz, and was made popular by Judy Garland. Listening to this music, you might get the feeling you weren't in Kansas anymore.
  3. I've got a girl in. . . Kalamazoo.


    Which, as you remember from last week, is in Michigan. Glen Miller's orchestra was really popular when they recorded this one in 1942. He did a lot to entertain the troops – Miller and members of his band were in a plane that disappeared over the Channel in 1944.
  4. And they swam and they swam all over. . . the dam.
    A poster for the Women's Land Army

    NOT 'the dam what?' Just 'the dam'. Everybody knew all about the three little fishies, starting with Kay Kyser in 1939. Oh, and you think funny lyrics with made-up words are new? Take a gander at the rest of the lyric:

    Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, choo,

    Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, choo,

    Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, choo. . .


    You get the idea.
  5. He was a famous. . . trumpet man from out. . . Chicago way.


    According to the Andrews Sisters, he 'had a boogey style that no one else could play'. The army doing cool Jodie calls did not originate with Bill Murray.
  6. There were. . . angels dining at the Ritz, and a. . . nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.


    Love is love, even if the bombs are falling. The song ends, 'I know, 'cause I was there, that night in Berkeley Square.'
  7. Don't sit under. . . the apple tree with anyone else but me.


    Till I come marching home, of course. After you've won that girl, you have to make her promise not to run off with a draft-dodger. (Sorry for the one-sidedness, ladies: this was the Chauvinist Era.)
  8. .. . . Bless'em all, . . . bless 'em all, the long and the short and the tall.


    If you said anything else, you are a) a rude person, or b) someone with a rude grandfather who has a good memory. Only the clean version turned up in the cinema.
  9. Comin' in on a. . . wing and a prayer.


    'One of our planes was missing. . . ' A common fear, and a heartfelt sentiment in the first conflict with widespread aerial warfare.
  10. Praise the Lord and pass. . . the ammunition.


    Do we sense a theme here? These words were allegedly spoken by a chaplain who joined in the fray. We refuse to comment.

How did you do? Are you ready to jump into your time machine and go to the tea dance – on Berkeley Square, of course? If you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, tell your friends. Ration coupons accepted.

A Spitfire on a demonstration flight over RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire
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