Fifty years after the end of the World War II, the music that wafted through our national dream life in the early 1940's is regarded by many as the country's finest pop moment. Nostalgia for the 40's dates back to the early 1970's when Bette Midler scored a top 10 single with 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,' a 1941 Andrews Sisters hit.

When America declared war on Japan in 1941, the swing era was already in full flower, with the most popular band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, defining the optimum musical balance between the visceral and the romantic. As America went to war, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, crooned by Bing Crosby in a voice rich with reassurance and faith, projected a Currier and Ives vision of a pristine, snow-christened America to soldiers abroad and their loved ones at home. Crosby, who was 40 when Pearl Harbor was bombed, reigned as the vocal embodiment of American benevolence, while Mr. Sinatra, who was 13 1/2 years younger, brought a new current of erotic tenderness and vulnerability into pop singing. Hits like 'I Dream of You,' 'If You Are But a Dream,' 'Dream' and 'Put Your Dreams Away' were sugarcoated valentines counseling patience and delayed gratification to the wives and girlfriends of American soldiers.

Cooperation, teamwork and an enforced civility had brought America out of the Depression and enabled the country to triumph in a world war that almost everyone agreed had been worth fighting. It was time for an explosion of individual voices.

Here are the top 10 hits from the World War II years.

1941

 1. 'Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy),' Jimmy Dorsey
2. 'Chattanooga Choo Choo,' Glenn Miller
3. 'Piano Concerto in B Flat,' Freddy Martin
4. 'Daddy,' Sammy Kaye
5. 'Green Eyes,' Jimmy Dorsey
6. 'Maria Elena,' Jimmy Dorsey
7. 'My Sister and I,' Jimmy Dorsey
8. 'Elmer's Tune,' Glenn Miller
9. 'Blue Champagne,' Jimmy Dorsey
10. 'Song of the Volga Boatmen,' Glenn Miller

1942

1. 'White Christmas,' Bing Crosby
2. 'Moonlight Cocktail,' Glenn Miller
3. 'Jingle Jangle Jingle,' Kay Kyser
4. '(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo,' Glenn Miller
5. 'Tangerine,' Jimmy Dorsey
6. 'Sleepy Lagoon,' Harry James
7. 'A String of Pearls,' Glenn Miller
8. 'Blues in the Night,' Woody Herman
9. 'Who Wouldn't Love You,' Kay Kyser
10. 'Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,' Kay Kyser

1943

1. 'I've Heard That Song Before,' Harry James
2. 'Paper Doll,' Mills Brothers
3. 'Sunday, Monday or Always,' Bing Crosby
4. 'There Are Such Things,' Tommy Dorsey
5. 'You'll Never Know,' Dick Haymes
6. 'In the Blue of the Evening,' Tommy Dorsey
7. 'Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer,' the Song Spinners
8. 'Taking a Chance on Love,' Benny Goodman
9. 'I Had the Craziest Dream,' Harry James
10.'That Old Black Magic,' Glenn Miller

1944

1. 'Swinging on a Star,' Bing Crosby
2. 'Shoo-Shoo Baby,' Andrews Sisters
3. 'Don't Fence Me In,' Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
4. 'Besame Mucho,' Jimmy Dorsey
5. 'I'll Get By,' Harry James
6. '(There'll Be a) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin'
Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
7. 'You Always Hurt the One You Love,' Mills Brothers
8. 'San Fernando Valley,' Bing Crosby
9. 'My Heart Tells Me,' Glen Gray
10.'I Love You,' Bing Crosby

 1945

1. 'Rum and Coca-Cola,' Andrews Sisters
2. 'Till the End of Time,' Perry Como
3. 'Sentimental Journey,' Les Brown
4. 'On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe,' Johnny Mercer
5. 'My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time,' Les Brown
6. 'There! I've Said It Again,' Vaughn Monroe
7. 'I Can't Begin to Tell You,' Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallaro
8. 'Chickery Chick,' Sammy Kaye
9. 'It's Been a Long, Long Time,' Harry James
10.'I'm Beginning to See the Light,' Harry James

(Source: 'Joel Whitburn's Pop Hits 1940-1954,' based on the Billboard charts.) function aaa() {history.go(-1)}

Extras:

What led up to that Day in Infamy?

War itself generally makes little sense, but the attack on Pearl Harbor has always sparked the imagination. 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded in the attack on December 7, 1941.

Remember Pearl Harbor by Eddie Howard

CBS News Bulletin on December 7, 1941

Famous Infamy speech delivered by President Roosevelt the day after the bombing on 12/08/1941 (very moving speech) FDR Infamy speech December 8, 1941

 

 

 

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