Nicki Jaine performing “Lili Marlene.”
“Lili Marlene” has a rich, storied history. It was originally a poem written by Hans Liep written during World War I. In Liep’s poem “Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht” the name Lili Marleen actually combined the first names of two different women who were his lovers. The cad!
The poem was recorded as a song by Lale Anderson in 1939. Due to a shortage of recordings, Radio Belgrade played the tune frequently on their broadcasts and it soon became a favorite of Axis soldiers. Strangely enough, the song also caught on with the Allied forces stationed around the Mediterranean who were within range of the Radio Belgrade broadcasts. The Allied soldiers eventually wrote their own lyrics to the tune, creating the derivative song “D-Day Dodgers.”
