Yes, once there was a time of true good, and true evil, and good was victorious.
This two disc set brings back 50 songs that were on the airwaves and juke boxes on May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces. Yes, you could argue that another set needs to be made for the War in the Pacific, but that is musically picking a nit.
The songs here are loaded with tunes oozing with total nostalgia for soldiers far away, such as Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again”, “It’s Been A Long, Long Time” by Harry James and “Long Ago and Far Away” by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest” or “I’ll Be Seeing You” by a skinny Frank Sinatra fronting Tommy Dorsey’s Orchestra, and of course the eternal “I”ll Be Home For Christmas” by Bing Crosby. On the other hand, there are songs reflecting various sides of the war effort, such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by the Andrews Sisters, or the humorous “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones and “GI Jive” by Louis Jordan.
Almost every tune has some aspect of the war involved, no matter the style of music, such as “Til Reveille” by Kay Kyser”, Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree” while some of the tunes are associated with films of the period such as “Lili Marlene” by Anne Shelton” or “As Time Goes By” by Rudy Vallee. As a bonus feature, radio announcements of victory by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman close out the session, taking on a true sentimental journey when air was clean and sex was dirty.