There'll Always Be an England
{{Short description|English patriotic song by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox song
| name = There'll Always Be an England
| cover = File:Cover_of_sheet_music_for_There'll_Always_Be_An_England_by_Ross_Parker_and_Hughie_Charles.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Sheet music cover
| type = Song
| artist = Vera Lynn
| album =
| released = 1939
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Patriotic song
| length =
| label =
| writer = Ross Parker, Hughie Charles
| producer =
}}
"There'll Always Be an England" is a British patriotic song, written and distributed in the summer of 1939, which became highly popular following the outbreak of the Second World War. It was composed and written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles.{{Cite book|last=Hayes|first=Nicky|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nDv-1ZeAV_AC&pg=PA295|title='Millions Like Us'?: British Culture in the Second World War|date=1999|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-763-1|language=en}} It was recorded in 1939 by Billy Cotton and his Band (REX 9632), whose recording is mentioned on the original 1939 sheet music, and supplied him with a finale for his show for years. A popular version was later recorded by Vera Lynn in 1962.
History
The song first appeared in Discoveries, a 1939 film by Carroll Levis, in which it was sung by the boy soprano Glyn Davies. After war broke out on 1 September, the song became popular and many records of it were made. Within the first two months of the war, 200,000 copies of the sheet music were sold.Seidenberg, Steven, Maurice Sellar and Lou Jones (1995). You Must Remember This: Songs at the Heart of the War. Boxtree. {{ISBN|978-0-7522-1065-0}}. See pp. 28–29. The song was used to express British patriotic defiance in the finale of Two Thousand Women, a successful 1944 film starring Phyllis Calvert and Patricia Roc about women interned by the Germans in occupied France.{{cite book |first=Bruce |last=Babington |title=Launder and Gilliat (British Film Makers) |year=2013 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=66 |isbn=978-07-19056-68-0}} Vera Lynn did not record the song during the war years, but did release a version in 1962 (HMV CSD 1457).{{Cite web|title="There'll Always Be An England" {{!}} Wartime Canada|url=https://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-ii/correspondence/therell-always-be-england-0|website=wartimecanada.ca|access-date=8 May 2020}}
Versions of the song were sung by Tiny Tim and the 1970 England World Cup Squad.{{cite book|last=James|first=David E. |title=Rock 'n' Film: Cinema's Dance with Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjskDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA251|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-938759-5|page=251}} The punk band The Sex Pistols came on stage to the tune in 2008.{{cite book|last=Faulk|first=Barry J. |title=British Rock Modernism, 1967-1977: The Story of Music Hall in Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oG43DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|date=23 May 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781409411901|page=20}}
Content
In its lyrics, the song invokes various clichés of British rural and urban life. It is best known for its chorus:
{{poemquote|There'll always be an England,
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me.}}
Despite the title, a second verse strives to encourage a sense of patriotic pride across the entirety of the United Kingdom ("Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you?") and British Empire ("The empire too, we can depend on you").
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/ww2-music-uk.html Modern history sourcebook]
- {{YouTube|EGrES89AKz4|Vera Lynn – There'll Always Be an England}}
- {{YouTube|biIq4QuAkDs|Vera Lynn – There'll Always Be an England (2007-11-08th Brixton Academy)}}
- {{YouTube|_qhLPWcm-0w|Vera Lynn – There'll Always Be an England (2016 reMaster)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:English patriotic songs
Category:United Kingdom home front during World War II
Category:Songs written by Ross Parker (songwriter)