Lyr Req: Wedding of Lili Marlene

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: GUEST,adrian -W
Date: 12 Dec 03 - 10:42 PM

i think lilie marlien is the best/ companion/girl friend/lover /wife I ever had, i hope    MR 'A'

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Nov 02 - 11:24 AM

In the parody, "prima" is commercial language. It means "first-class" -- the kind of word you might use in a sales pitch.

In another version of the refrain, "noch einst" is replaced by "wieviel?" (how much?).

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Nov 02 - 05:48 AM

Coincidentally, I notice a recent CD by The Keane Brothers (Sean etc.)of Caherlistrane,Co. Galway contains a version of "The Wedding of Lili Marlene".

Regards

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WEDDING OF LILI MARLENE
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 05:05 AM

THE WEDDING OF LILI MARLENE
Melody - Tommie Connor and Johnny Reine, 1949

There were tears in the crowded congregation,
There were hearts that had loved but all in vain
'Twas goodbye to the sweetheart of the nation,
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

Men who'd marched where the desert sands are burning
From Tobruk down the road to Alamein,
In their hearts tender mem'ries were returning
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

As she knelt where the candlelights were gleaming,
It seemed the choir sang soft and low,
"Farewell my angel of the lamplight,
We'll always love you so."

Down the aisle came the bride in all her glory,
To the strains of her own, sweet, love refrain,
'Twas the end of a very lovely story,
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

NP

added after spotting in another thread

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: MMario
Date: 16 Nov 00 - 03:55 PM

here

url=http://ingeb.org/songs/theweddi.html

Subject: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Ferrara
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 09:09 PM

The Lili Marlene thread reminded me of this. My folks had a 78 rpm record of this thing. I do mean "thing" -- it is a tacky sentimental ballad with none of the class of the original. All the same, it's (mostly) in my memory and heart forever and I would love it if anyone could fill in the blanks. It went (mostly) like this:

There were tears in the crowded congregation,
There were hearts that had loved her all in vain,
'Twas goodbye to the sweetheart of a nation,
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

? was there another part here? I think so???

Interlude:

As she knelt where the candle lights were gleaming,
It seemed the choir sang soft and low:
"Farewell, sweet angel of the lamplight,
"We'll always love you so."

Down the aisle came the bride in all her glory,
To the tune of her own sweet love refrain
'Twas the end of a very lovely story
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

Interestingly, the more I typed, the more the words of the song came back to me. This may be all of it.

---

Messages from multiple threads combined.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 23 Apr 98 - 12:23 AM

Thanks a bunch, Wolfgang! I'll try to get an arrangement of this tri-lingual song for next Remembrance Day.

Subject: Lyr Add: LILY MARLÈNE (in French)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 21 Apr 98 - 08:08 AM

Moira, voilà il est:

Lily Marlène (French)

Devant la caserne, quand le jour s’enfuit,
la vieille lanterne soudain s’allume et luit.
C’est dans ce coin là, que le soir
on s’attendait remplis d’espoir,
tous deux, Lily Marlène.

Et dans la nuit sombre nos corps enlacés
ne faisaient qu’une ombre lorsque je t’embrassait.
Nous échangions ingénument,
joue contre joue, bien des serments,
tous deux, Lily Marlène.

Le temps passe vite lorsque l’on est deux,
hélas, on se quitte,, voici le couvre-feu.
Te souviens-tu de nos regrets,
lorsqu’il fallait nous séparer,
dis-moi, Lily Marlène.

La vielle lanterne s’allume tous jours,
devant la caserne, lorsque finit le jour.
Mais tout me paraît étranger,
aurais-je donc beaucoup changé,
dis moi, Lily Marlène.

Cette tendre histoire de nos chers vingt ans
joue dans ma mémoire, malgré les jours, les ans
Il me semble entendre ton pas
et je te serre entre mes bras, Lily, Lily Marlène.

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 14 Apr 98 - 09:43 AM

Joe, I was only showing a (folk) friend in another town this site for five minutes and just to show him what a forum search was, I entered (silly me) my own name...

from memory:
Devant la caserne quand le jour s'enfuit
la vielle lanterne s'allume et luit
c'est dans ce coin là ou le soir
je t'attendrais rempli d'espoir, L.M.

I might have more of it at home, Moira. If so, you'll find it here next tuesday.

I often heard, Lily Marlene was forbidden to play (for radio stations) in Germany during the war (too soft a song for tough soldiers). I don't know if that is a rumor or a fact.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 06 Apr 98 - 04:43 PM

This was sung in French, too, wasn't it? Anyone have the French lyrics? I've been thinking of doing a tri-language rendition of this song.

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Apr 98 - 02:01 PM

Aha! mention the magic name, and Wolfgang comes out of the woodwork. I KNEW you couldn't stay away from us for long, Wofgang! Good to see you back, even if it's only for a moment.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Wolfgang
Date: 06 Apr 98 - 08:07 AM

Joe's guess "noch eins" (once more) seems to be the best guess to me in the context of the parody.
Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Ferrara
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 09:46 PM

I do have both English and German versions of the original "Lili Marlene." It is one of the best loved soldiers' songs in modern history, and was loved and sung by both German- and English-speaking troops.

But what I'm looking for is a sappy, saccharine, tin-pan-alley-generated song that makes reference to the original Lili Marlene and is supposed to be a sequel. It's a curiosity, a bit of fluff, not at all like the original Lili Marlene which is a truly great song.

All the same it's stuck in my memory and I'd love to find it.... Maybe Dick Spotswood (a Washington-area folk historian and DJ) would know. But he's not on the Forum so I thought I'd ask you folks first. Thanks. - Ferrara

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 09:23 PM

LILI MARLENE (informal) ere
Vor der Kaserne, Amerikan Soldat

In front of the barracks, an American soldier

Mit viele Cigaretten und beaucoup Chocolat

With lots of cigarettes and beaucoup chocolate

Alles is prime; alles is gut

Everything is fine (prima??), everything is good

Nur zwanzig Marks fur ein' Minute

Only twenty marks for one minute

Noch einst, Lili Marlene, Noch einst, Lili marlene.

Well, Murray, does he mean "one of these days," or "one more time"?

I'm not all that idiomatisch, either. Where's Wolfgang when we need him?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From:
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 09:01 PM

It's been a long time since I spoke German, Joe, but I think "einst" can mean someday and "noch einst" would mean "one of these days".

I will blow the dust off my old dictionaries and grammars and see if I can find the expression.

Murray

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 02:35 PM

Here are the English lyrics, the German and a German parody. I think the German text on the last line of the parody should be "noch eins" (once again). "Wie einst" from the original German song means "Like it was once upon a time." Sometimes, German can be very concise - but not usually.

But the song Ferrara is talking about is an answer to the original song. Anybody got the lyrics?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Susan of DT
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 11:39 AM

Murray- The song dates back to WWI; it was a poem with a known author (unfortunately no longer known by me). The German, and later the Allied troops picked it up in the early days of WWII. The Brit government was upset about their troops singing a German song, so they commissioned sanitized words, and sponsored a recording (not Marlene, but some guy whose name I've also forgotten)to circulate the authorized PC version.

Subject: RE: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From:
Date: 05 Apr 98 - 09:06 AM

There was a song Lili Marlene. It had the distinction of being sung by both sides in WWII. The story has it that one of the German singers made it a hit first, and their troops all sang it. When Marlene Dietrich escaped to the US, the State Department had her record an English version for the American/English troops to sing.

I think she was a real person who herself was an entertainer and who was forced to spy for the Nazis in order to save her lover--but that may only be the Fassbinder version of the story--he made a movie called Lili Marlene. There must be a Marlene Dietrich recording of it. She sang it as long as she entertained.

The tune was used in the song "D-day dodgers". I forgot who wrote it, but it was made popular by Pete Seeger. It is also a WWII song taking a dig at the then England's darling Lady Astor who accused the English troops in Italy of dodging the rest of the war by remaining there. She called them the "D-day dodgers".

Anyone have better information?

Murray

Subject: Wedding of Lili Marlene
From: Ferrara
Date: 04 Apr 98 - 03:26 PM

Shortly after WW II, my folks had a 78 RPM recording of this song. I remember (part of) one verse, wonder if there's any more. The part I remember goes like this:

There were tears in the crowded congregation,
There were hearts that had loved her all in vain
'Twas goodbye to the sweetheart of a nation
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

(I think there should be another bit here.) As she knelt where the candle lights were gleaming,
It seemed the choir sang soft and low
"Farewell, sweet angel of the lamplight,
"We've always loved you so"

Down the aisle came the bride in all her glory
To the tune of her own sweet love refrain
'Twas the end of a very lovely story
At the wedding of Lili Marlene.

... Silly stuff, really, but I loved it dearly when I was about seven years old, and would love to have the whole thing or know where it came from. - Ferrara