Grand Dame Vera
Quentin Letts, 09.17.09, 12:01 AM ET Forbes.com Excerpt:
At the age of 92, Dame Vera Lynn does not quite qualify for the term "rock chick," yet this week she topped the British music album charts. A compilation of her greatest hits, including the World War II song "We'll Meet Again," outsold the competition.
Modernists are baffled, and Dame Vera herself is more than a little surprised. It is more than a decade since she retired from live performances, and she had pretty much settled down to a life of comfy slippers and milky drinks. Now she is top of the pops again. Confessing she did not have a clue why her music was back in favor, she celebrated by taking herself out to an expensive restaurant on France's Cote d'Azur and asking the head waiter to bring her a large glass of fizz. Oh, and a plate of king prawns too, please, young man. Click, click, click went the press cameras as Dame Vera lifted her champagne flute and gave a snowy-haired smile, framed by pink lipstick. It was quite like old times again.
In the 1940s Dame Vera was "The Forces' Sweetheart," but her appeal was never overtly sexual. There was something restrained, even almost aunt-like about Vera. She sang to the troops, posing on tanks and visiting the boys near the front line to raise morale, but she was never one of those boob thrusters who winked frantically at the cinema newsreel lens. Vera was more grown-up than that.
Her voice was strong and faintly masculine. If it lacked the sultry melancholy of the German soldiers' favorite song, "Lili Marlene," it had other qualities. The words to "We'll Meet Again" were optimistic. They assured wartime Britain that things would improve. The country remembered the part she played in keeping spirits afloat, and Dame Vera remained amazingly popular long after she receded from the fashionable music scene. She never forgot her "boys" either, working tirelessly for soldiers' charities.
About 15 years ago, I spent a day with her. We had both been invited by a car buff called Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to accompany him on the London to Brighton run, an annual rally for vintage cars that uses the old roads between the capital and the south coast. I forget the details of the particular roadster Lord Montagu chose from his motor museum that day, but it was about 80 years old and open to the elements.
END EXCERPT
That is pretty damn cool.
Quentin Letts, 09.17.09, 12:01 AM ET Forbes.com Excerpt:
At the age of 92, Dame Vera Lynn does not quite qualify for the term "rock chick," yet this week she topped the British music album charts. A compilation of her greatest hits, including the World War II song "We'll Meet Again," outsold the competition.
Modernists are baffled, and Dame Vera herself is more than a little surprised. It is more than a decade since she retired from live performances, and she had pretty much settled down to a life of comfy slippers and milky drinks. Now she is top of the pops again. Confessing she did not have a clue why her music was back in favor, she celebrated by taking herself out to an expensive restaurant on France's Cote d'Azur and asking the head waiter to bring her a large glass of fizz. Oh, and a plate of king prawns too, please, young man. Click, click, click went the press cameras as Dame Vera lifted her champagne flute and gave a snowy-haired smile, framed by pink lipstick. It was quite like old times again.
In the 1940s Dame Vera was "The Forces' Sweetheart," but her appeal was never overtly sexual. There was something restrained, even almost aunt-like about Vera. She sang to the troops, posing on tanks and visiting the boys near the front line to raise morale, but she was never one of those boob thrusters who winked frantically at the cinema newsreel lens. Vera was more grown-up than that.
Her voice was strong and faintly masculine. If it lacked the sultry melancholy of the German soldiers' favorite song, "Lili Marlene," it had other qualities. The words to "We'll Meet Again" were optimistic. They assured wartime Britain that things would improve. The country remembered the part she played in keeping spirits afloat, and Dame Vera remained amazingly popular long after she receded from the fashionable music scene. She never forgot her "boys" either, working tirelessly for soldiers' charities.
About 15 years ago, I spent a day with her. We had both been invited by a car buff called Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to accompany him on the London to Brighton run, an annual rally for vintage cars that uses the old roads between the capital and the south coast. I forget the details of the particular roadster Lord Montagu chose from his motor museum that day, but it was about 80 years old and open to the elements.
END EXCERPT
That is pretty damn cool.
