Schräge Musik

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

Lilli Marlene was a German song sung in German by a German artiste (whose name has just slipped by me). It was played on German radio and became popular amongst the Eighth Army in the desert, before it was anglicised and sung by anyone in the USA. I rather doubt that Dietrich's version was ever played on the official German radio.

As jazz predates the Nazi regime, a name for it would have existed in German in advance of any ban.

Lili Marlene was popularised in Germany in a version by Lala Andersen (who was Danish, I believe). As Graham said, 8th Army heard it on German Forces Radio and the bif EnGlish version was by Vera Lynn. AFAIK Dietrich's version was the favoured one amongst American audiences.

And American jazz was suppressed in Nazi Germany as degenerate "jungle music": I have seen interviews on TV with people who were arrested for listening to it. That didn't stop Goebbels using a swing band (Charlie and his Orchestra) to broadcast popular songs to the Allies with their lyrics altered to spread defeatism. There's a whole book about this with a cd incorporated.

Relevant web page here.