The A to Z of Wartime Song

About The A to Z of Wartime Song

🎵 Hosted by @tomcarradine & @lili_redman ✨ Exploring iconic songs from the frontlines to the home front 📜 History, harmony & heart from WWI to WWII

Publisher

Tom Carradine and Lili Redman

Category

history · music

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

31 Mar 2025

Latest episode

14 May 2026

Latest episodes

36 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 May 2026

   Schedule Update - Tom Sets Sail!

   Just a quick update from Lili and Tom on where the podcast is up to - and why there won't be any new episodes for a little while! Tom is heading off to sea for the London Theatre at Sea week aboard the Queen Mary 2, followed by a few days in New York. Lili meanwhile is performing this Sunday (17th May 2026) at International Bomber Command in Lincoln.  Here are all the the details: https://www.facebook.com/events/international-bomber-command-centre/the-crabapple-club-at-international-bomber-command-centre-lincoln/1212740987641227/ https://internationalbcc.co.uk/ Normal service will resume before too long - but in the meantime, now is the perfect time to get in touch. Lili and Tom are hard at work preparing scripts for the rest of Series 2, so if there's a wartime song you'd love them to cover, a family story connected to one, or a character from the era you think deserves a mention - drop them a line. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS You can follow the podcast on social media: http://instagram.com/warsongspod https://www.facebook.com/warsongspod Find more information about Lili Redman here: https://liliredman.com/ (https://liliredman.com/) https://www.instagram.com/lili__redman/ https://www.facebook.com/ScalaLil Or Tom Carradine here: https://www.tomcarradine.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tomcarradine https://www.facebook.com/mrtomcarradine CONTACT THE PODCAST If there's a wartime song that you think they should discuss, or if you have a personal or family story connected to one, drop them a line at warsongspod@gmail.com to be "Mentioned in Dispatches". LISTENING LINKS Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ktQ4nyudmPRLcCNyNxEfv?si=ac9e1babe6834f2b Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-a-to-z-of-wartime-song/id1806037318 If you've enjoyed this episode Lili and Tom would be grateful if you'd leave a review and make sure you've subscribed and turned on notifications so you'll never miss an episode.

2. 

   9 May 2026

   Goodnight Sweetheart - Al Bowlly: A Voice That Could Make Itself Cry

   In this episode of The A to Z of Wartime Song, Lili Redman and Tom Carradine turn to one of the most beloved songs of the era - "Goodnight Sweetheart," written in 1931 by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, and made immortal by the voice of Al Bowlly. They trace the remarkable career of Ray Noble - Brighton-born bandleader, composer and arranger who assembled one of the most star-studded orchestras in American history, with Glenn Miller on trombone and a residency at the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center - before turning to the extraordinary and often overlooked partnership of Campbell and Connelly, the odd couple behind some of the era's biggest hits, from "Show Me the Way to Go Home" to "Try a Little Tenderness." But at the heart of this episode is Al Bowlly himself - born in Mozambique, fired from a band in the Dutch East Indies, and eventually becoming Britain's most popular singer of the 1930s, recording over a thousand songs and beating Bing Crosby in a nationwide American popularity poll. His story ends on the night of 16th April 1941 - one of the worst nights of the Blitz - when a Luftwaffe parachute mine detonated outside his St James's flat, leaving his body unmarked but his brilliant career silenced forever. Tender, nostalgic and quietly heartbreaking, this is an episode about a voice that could make itself cry - and a song that still does the same to us. SPOTIFY PLAYLIST You can listen to ALL of the songs that Tom and Lili talk about in the episode on their Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FQDrBphYqYLAuN6Jm01PN?si=b777dc33a703408a REFERENCES Melton Mowbray 1940s Festival http://1940smeltonmowbray.co.uk/ Didcot Steam into the Forties https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/ Goodnight Sweetheart - Theme Tune (sung by Nick Curtis) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZxbIG4thw&list=RDOFZxbIG4thw&start_radio=1 Goodnight Sweetheart - Sitcom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Sweetheart_(TV_series) Goodnight Sweetheart - 1931 recordings https://secondhandsongs.com/work/135389/versions Ray Noble looks back on his career https://youtu.be/XQup9s58AS8?si=0yTb-7pDxbA3C3xo The Very Thought of You - Ray Noble (Al Bowlly vocal) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi4hPIQ8WGs Love is the Sweetest Thing - Ray Noble (Al Bowlly vocal) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXv0ezazXg&list=RDhUXv0ezazXg&start_radio=1 New Mayfair Dance Orchestra https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/New_Mayfair_Dance_Orchestra Campbell and Connelly Music https://www.wisemusic.com/brands/ Show Me the Way to Go Home (1925) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_the_Way_to_Go_Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27BYUcnabr0&list=RD27BYUcnabr0&start_radio=1 Chick Chick Chick Chick Chicken (Jack Hylton 1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoHz4s3VzDY Try a Little Tenderness - Ray Noble's Mayfair Dance Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIlw3VIEVHU When the Poppies Bloom Again - Don Pelosi (Vera Lynn vocal) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKR0-wq3JeA Al Bowlly https://www.memorylane.org.uk/al-bowlly.html Monseigneur Restaurant https://www.superstock.com/asset/evening-monseigneur-fashionable-london-restaurant-diners-watching-cabaret-performance-monseigneur/4220-20399329?srsltid=AfmBOool34LfUi5MhkBrSPUVtyYr507i10mi_dgFqzAUXcwL0FgJOUCK Al Bowlly's Love Life https://theclerkenwellkid.blogspot.com/2012/04/bowled-over-by-love.html Ken Snake Hips Johnson and the Bombing of the Cafe De Paris https://alanmalcher.com/2021/09/08/the-british-homefront-during-ww2-the-cafe-de-paris-bombed-during-the-london-blitz/ https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Melody-Maker/40s/1941/Melody-Maker-1941-03-15-S-OCR.pdf Al Bowlly's Death https://flashbak.com/the-wednesday-and-the-death-of-the-crooner-al-bowlly-414748/ Sheet Music - 1930s Cover https://ebay.us/m/hkERke Sheet Music - Rudy Vallee Version https://www.sheetmusicsinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Good-Night-Sweetheart-1931.pdf Goodnight Sweetheart - Al Bowlly (1931) https://youtu.be/syn51Vu-js8?si=GZlmhUMrL2IH_Zzj Goodnight Sweetheart - Rudy Vallée (1942) https://youtu.be/Rpaq3U78fag?si=87ewbTK3Sn4ON-WX Goodnight Sweetheart - Kenny Baker (1943) https://youtu.be/yzd01kDbukE?si=nKerv-DvdQgKl3lF Goodnight Sweetheart - Kitty Carlisle (1944) https://youtu.be/COXFsgMgK2o?si=v1Sxffjcqi5djHFs Goodnight Campers - Hi-de-Hi (1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-1byQtuR3E Falling in Love Again - Al Bowlly (1930) https://youtu.be/-UYtDm1g7Y0?si=9FnK1NTrD4GhQSIV https://www.albowlly.club/78s/falling-in-love-again.html Tell Me Are You From Georgia? - Al Bowlly (1931) https://youtu.be/eUsl5qp3Ex0?si=PHaT537h8uf-ogqR https://www.albowlly.club/78s/tell-me-are-you-from-georgia.html When That Man Is Dead and Gone - Al Bowlly (1941) https://youtu.be/WJYCh8Sqzsw?si=UnYwyO5ktC56X04k https://www.albowlly.club/78s/when-that-man-is-dead-and-gone.html Al Bowlly Club Website www.albowlly.club (https://www.albowlly.club) Al Bowlly Facebook Pages https://www.facebook.com/groups/albowlly https://www.facebook.com/groups/426854338673569 CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:49 Catch Up 02:11 G = Goodnight Sweetheart 04:51 Ray Noble 08:46 Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connolly 12:10 Al Bowlly 27:59 Discussing the Sheet Music 29:24 Discussing the Lyrics 31:17 Discussing the Music 33:54 Discussing the Versions: Al Bowlly 34:40 Rudy Vallée 35:30 Kenny Baker 35:52 Kitty Carlisle 36:41 Hi-de-Hi 37:53 Which Is Our Favourite? 39:44 If You Liked That You'll Like This 46:07 Mentioned in Dispatches 47:33 Teaser for Next Week 48:15 Outro SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS You can follow the podcast on social media: http://instagram.com/warsongspod (https://www.facebook.com/warsongspod) https://www.facebook.com/warsongspod Find more information about Lili Redman here: https://liliredman.com/ (https://liliredman.com/) https://www.instagram.com/lili__redman/ https://www.facebook.com/ScalaLil Or Tom Carradine here: https://www.tomcarradine.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tomcarradine https://www.facebook.com/mrtomcarradine CONTACT THE PODCAST If there's a wartime song that you think they should discuss, or if you have a personal or family story connected to one, drop them a line at warsongspod@gmail.com to be "Mentioned in Dispatches". LISTENING LINKS Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ktQ4nyudmPRLcCNyNxEfv?si=ac9e1babe6834f2b Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-a-to-z-of-wartime-song/id1806037318 If you've enjoyed this episode Lili and Tom would be grateful if you'd leave a review and make sure you've subscribed and turned on notifications so you'll never miss an episode.

3. 

   2 May 2026

   Falling in Love Again - From the Blue Angel to the Front Line

   In this episode of The A to Z of Wartime Song, Lili Redman and Tom Carradine travel back to one of the most extraordinary moments in modern cultural history - Weimar Republic Berlin - to explore Marlene Dietrich's signature song, "Falling in Love Again," composed by the brilliant Friedrich Hollaender for the 1930 film The Blue Angel. They trace Dietrich's remarkable journey from a Berlin chorus girl to one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars - a woman who turned down the Nazi Party's lucrative offers, renounced her German citizenship, and ended up performing for Allied troops within a few kilometres of German lines, armed with songs, a musical saw and a mind-reading act taught to her by Orson Welles. Along the way, they paint a vivid picture of Weimar Berlin itself - its queer nightclubs and cabarets, its Nobel Prize-winning scientists, its organised chaos - and the moment it was all extinguished almost overnight when the Nazis came to power in 1933. There's also a fascinating portrait of Hollaender himself - born in London to a circus family, trained at the Stern Conservatory, and eventually forced to flee to Hollywood where he rebuilt his career composing for over a hundred films. Smoky, sultry and utterly iconic, this episode is a love letter to a brief, brilliant moment in history - and the song that came to define it. SPOTIFY PLAYLIST You can listen to ALL of the songs that Tom and Lili talk about in the episode on their Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FQDrBphYqYLAuN6Jm01PN?si=b777dc33a703408a REFERENCES Boater Day (Straw Hat Day) - 15th May https://nationaltoday.com/straw-hat-day/ Falling in Love Again - Marlene Dietrich (Original 1930 Version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJuu7Y-hww&list=RDdhJuu7Y-hww&start_radio=1 Dusty Limits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Limits / https://www.instagram.com/thedustylimits/ Marlene Dietrich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Dietrich Marlene as Lola Lola in Blue Angel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYXg7LlzyO8&list=RDGYXg7LlzyO8&start_radio=1 The Blue Angel - Movie 1930 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdww58D6rhc Marlene performing at the Front https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvfaw4mlOM Weimar Republic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic The Eldorado https://adventuresintimeandgender.org/stories/the-club-history/ The Kit Kat Club https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KitKatClub Moka Efti https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/24/babylon-berlin-real-1920s-superclub-behind-weimar-era-thriller Babylon Berlin - TV Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_Berlin Haus Vaterland https://www.the-berliner.com/berlin/haus-vaterland-history-the-lost-pleasure-palace-of-potsdamer-platz/ Kurt Weill https://www.kwf.org/kurt-weill/ Bertolt Brecht https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht The Eldorado - as the Nazi Headquarters https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/photo-of-the-eldorado-club Friedrich Hollaender https://www.frederickhollandermusic.com/ Tingel Tangle Theatre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyBV5Odi-PQ A Foreign Affair - With Hollaender at the piano (at 31:30) https://m.ok.ru/video/3845684660924 Those Town from Earth - Frederick's Novel https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/those-torn-from-earth-preface-by-thomas-mann/author/hollander-frederick/ Falling in Love Again - Sheet Music PDF https://www.sheetmusicsinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Falling-In-Love-Again-1930.pdf Emil Jannings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Jannings Falling in Love Again - Billie Holliday https://youtu.be/jIcc5EDJFRw?si=Z2L0Lr38YAoAMkT1 Falling in Love Again - Gracie Fields https://youtu.be/XaJXb3gSxIs?si=76Rr3sghmyTUzU4q Paul O'Grady as Marlene https://youtu.be/wjiWfVHB3Fo?si=dL13y6kreMyyQ0_G Lieutenant Gruber in 'Allo 'Allo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFCCNGFR4jo 'Allo 'Allo https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xyt3 Das Lila Lied - The Lavender Song (Marek Weber 1921) https://youtu.be/d_a3UkF3aTI?si=qhzCDzl1OYr6ALv_ My Ship - Hildegarde https://youtu.be/cSTzg81oD4s?si=ueTDdJHghGOt0Url Johnny, wenn du Geburtstag hast - Marlene Dietrich https://youtu.be/PJxgmQ06awk?si=6u50CB7xBC6SUxsb Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus - The Comedian Harmonists https://open.spotify.com/track/4tzGDmOcO3oZcVh3BjkIWn?si=13890bfd8fa043b3 CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Wartime Songs 00:50 Catch Up 01:46 F = Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It) 04:13 Marlene Dietrich 09:34 The Weimar Republic: A Cultural Explosion 21:12 Fredrick Hollander 26:16 Discussing the Sheet Music 26:54 Emil Jannings 29:14 Discussing the Lyrics 32:48 Discussing the Music 36:05 Discussing the Versions: Marlene Dietrich 37:52 Billie Holiday 38:50 Gracie Fields 40:50 Which Is Our Favourite? 42:10 If You Liked That You'll Like This 48:25 Mentioned in Dispatches 49:07 Teaser for Next Week 49:52 Outro SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS You can follow the podcast on social media: http://instagram.com/warsongspod (https://www.facebook.com/warsongspod) https://www.facebook.com/warsongspod Find more information about Lili Redman here: https://liliredman.com/ (https://liliredman.com/) https://www.instagram.com/lili__redman/ https://www.facebook.com/ScalaLil Or Tom Carradine here: https://www.tomcarradine.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tomcarradine https://www.facebook.com/mrtomcarradine CONTACT THE PODCAST If there's a wartime song that you think they should discuss, or if you have a personal or family story connected to one, drop them a line at warsongspod@gmail.com to be "Mentioned in Dispatches". LISTENING LINKS Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ktQ4nyudmPRLcCNyNxEfv?si=ac9e1babe6834f2b Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-a-to-z-of-wartime-song/id1806037318 If you've enjoyed this episode Lili and Tom would be grateful if you'd leave a review and make sure you've subscribed and turned on notifications so you'll never miss an episode.

Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100

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95

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