Word: marleen
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...sing while buoyed up on Rhine wine, with a fraulein on either side, swaying to the music. It first turned up at the Cologne Carnival in 1935, called Du Kannst Nicht Treu Sein. Too brassy for smart dance orchestras (which have always stuck more to stickier tunes like Lili Marleen), village orchestras and brass bands blared it out, with a strong pair of lungs on the trumpet and a heavy hand on the drum. By the time the Germans invaded Poland, even the barrel organs had given...
...winter the Belgrade broadcasters felt that perhaps the tune was being overplayed. They tried a new and hopeful theme song, "Es geht Alles vorüber, es geht Alles vorbei" ("Everything will be over, everything will be past"). But subversive parodies soon caused Propaganda Minister Goebbels to order Lili Marleen back on the air again...
Outside the Third Reich, Lili Marleen has gone through various metamorphoses. The British changed it into a sentimental song. The Danes and Norwegians made up verses in which Hitler swung from Marleen's lamppost. Following this cue, the OWI has prepared a version for possible future use in propaganda broadcasts to Germany. Sample stanza...
...know, Lili Marleen? Do you know, Lili Marleen...
...last week Lili Marleen, perhaps the Tipperary of World War II, had yet to be played...