Lily Marlin on Arte: The Amazing Fate of a Sad Song That Became a Global Hit

Lily Marlin on Arte: The Amazing Fate of a Sad Song That Became a Global Hit

“Lily Marlin”, which aired this evening, is inspired by the story of Lale Andersen, the first interpretation of the famous song, which in its time became a banner of Nazi propaganda. A sad and melancholy song that became a world hit.

1938. Willie, a young German singer, loves Robert, a Jewish musician whose father heads an underground organization that helps refugees. Soon war separates them. Under the auspices of the Third Reich Commissioner for Culture, Willie becomes the regime’s propaganda figure, and his song “Lili Marleen” is on everyone’s lips. But he did not forget Robert. To find him, he joins the resistance …

The great Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s recent collaboration with his muse Hannah Shigula, Lily Marlin, is inspired by the story of Lale Andersen, the first translator of the famous song, which in its time became a banner of Nazi propaganda. But not only that: his success went far beyond the Third Reich, even gaining the favor of the Allies and the whole world. Go back to the song that has a unique destiny.

A love song born from a poem

Lily Marlin Is a German love song whose lyrics are inspired by a poem written in April 1915 by German writer and poet Hans Leipz, published in his 1937 collection of poems. The little Hafenorgel.

The author, written the day before he left for the Russian front, recounts his confusion. Accused of indiscipline, he performs his guard duty by walking in front of the barracks door, instead of finding a young girl in love.

German singer Lale Andersen discovered the poem at the request of Norbert Schulz. He recorded the song in August 1939, the day before the declaration of war. And this is a bitter defeat: they sell only 700 copies.

We offer the original version of the song, in 1939 ..

Unexpected success

The entry of Germany into the war and the invasion of the USSR in 1941 suddenly changed the status of the song: from a love song it became a song during the war.

Its success began on August 18, 1941, after British bombers destroyed the recording warehouse of Lieutenant Heinz-Karl Reitgen, director of German Army Radio in Belgrade, which was heard on the North African and Norwegian fronts.

Wehrmacht soldiers, far from their homes and friends, send a dedication that was read during a popular show. The song is a sign that closes every evening at 10 a.m. at the end of the program. In turn, it is becoming very popular.

Third Reich propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels did not like the song. Overly nostalgic, it will give the blues to soldiers who will be domesticated and seriously reduce their fanaticism, to fight in the theater of all operations.

But the song also has the benevolence of strong figures in the party, beginning with Marshall Erwin, nicknamed the “Desert Fox” after he took over as head of the African Corps on the Tripolitania Front (now Libya). Radio Berlin finishes its broadcast daily, 35 times a day. Even the second wife of former opera singer Herman Goering is defending the song.

Allied troops are not insensitive to the sweet melancholy and timbre of Lale Andersen’s voice. In The program is dedicated to exactly this famous songWriter Jean-Pierre Gueno said that in 1942, on a trip to the Tripoli front, a dedicated program on a daily basis would result in a momentary ceasefire and a kind of brotherhood between British and German troops in Tobruk when the song was played loudly every evening after 10pm.

Planetary mile for offspring

The success of the song is like a forest fire. So transformed in France in 1942, in occupied France, singer Susie Solidor, who was practicing her vocals in a cabaret. Parisian life, Which was often visited by German officers. In 1942, Lily Marlin Translated and adapted into 43 languages.

Before the British Army produced and recorded the local version in May 1943, the American version of the song was performed by a female trio. Andrews sisters, Was a great success. But it is Marlene Dietrich who will make the song even more famous.

A fiercely anti-Nazi, now an American citizen (since June 1939), the actor and singer appropriated the song. So much so that for many soldiers, Marlene has identified Lily Marlin Of the song.

He sings it for GIs in all theaters of operations: in Algeria, on the Italian front, and even during the Battle of the Ardennes, the Third Reich’s last attempt to change the course of the war on the Western Front. . Sung sixty times during the war.

Marlene Dietrich will also continue to sing her after years on world music tours, which she has been performing since the 1950s. Overwhelmed with deep sadness, he first and foremost evokes the soldier’s fatigue and frustration.

Here is the version Lily MarlinMarlene Dietrich sang in German:

Here’s an English version of Marlene Dietrich, just as exciting:

The song will be adapted for the other end of the earth; Even in China. Lily Marlin Is “A sad and nostalgic message of love, reminiscent of the tragic reality of the great loneliness of human beings. Wrote Jean-Pierre Geno Lily Marlin, the true story of the most beautiful love song of all time, Published by Librio in 2012.

A song that gives these silhouettes of a crossed man or woman an incredible look may be once in a lifetime, never approached, never embraced, but suddenly adorns them, idealizing them to be the only object of their desires. “. It is a subversive song, we also understand well why it was banned in many totalitarian regimes.

Source: allocine

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