The above picture is one snapshot of what American society must have been like during and immediately after World War II.  We probably would not see beautiful women giving us "Orders of the Day" in 1999. Rather, women are part of the military of course, and have many high ranking positions men previously held.  But this picture skillfully captures the attitude in America towards the war that was going on at the time. In almost every part of society, one could see the optimism of the nation.  Men were fighting the evil Nazis and "Japs," while women worked the men's jobs to keep the cause going.  This kind of optimism could also be felt and heard in the music of the era.  Earlier in the century, big band music became wildly popular, and still was in the 1940's.  This music was the pulse of American society in its pro-war views. Everyone enjoyed hearing men like Bing Crosby bring his crooning style to their ears, telling them that the war is a just and exciting cause.  Perhaps the most unexpected war music emerged out of the folk genre, with pioneers like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie telling it how they saw their time.  Truly the war effort seemed a positive experience on the home front, and leading the way in creating this optimism, and in doing so creating the way we remember war, was the music.

Perhaps the most recognizable thing about the music of World War II are the song titles themselves. So self-explanatory, so directly to the point, it is easy to pick out a song geared towards war. One example of this is Lainie Nelson's They're Either too Young or too Old on her album Songs of World War II, which takes a light-hearted look at what's left for the women when most American men go off to war. Another is Andrea Marcovicci's I'll be Seeing You: Love Songs of World War II. Well known classics like Sentimental Journey,  Moonlight Serenade, and I'll be Home for Christmas, all speak of an innocent longings for loved ones. I'll Be Home for Christmas in fact is more synonymous with the holiday itself - explaining its resilience - because there is no direct lyrical reference of war.  It is as if the speaker in the song is just on business or a long trip, hardly war.  The bottom line is that these women seem to appease the listeners. They speak of their longing, and at the same time tell society it is okay to miss your man, because they are fighting for the good of Americans everywhere.

More mainstream artists like Mel Torme sing in the same way as the mentioned artists above.  Big band music was "in" and the upbeat melodies of large orchestras almost covered up what the songs were saying about war. In Mel and George (Shearing) Do World War II, this can easily been seen.  An almost joking nature in songs like This is the Army Mr. Jones shows the way that most Americans - those who had not suffered loss, of course - probably felt about the war. Certainly it seems that the propaganda used (including music) to get Americans to support World War II succeded, making these songs still today favorites of a generation.

The best example, though, of American society's view of war can be heard best in Bing Crosby's music. On an album entitled Those Great World War II Songs, Crosby takes the listener through the most "American" collection of WWII songs there is. From  Swinging on a Star to Yankee Doodle Dandy, from The Army Air Corps Song to Road to Victory, these songs all evoked smiles on faces and pride in the hearts of Americans. This country in many senses was living "The Good Life," and the music was a good indication of that. Because the music was so positive, with the melodies in major keys and the climaxing in lyrics alluding to the message "America is great," this reassuring music was very easy for the public to love.

On the opposite side of the musical spectrum, folk musicians were saying both different and similar messages in their music. It is interesting that such a different genre of music emerged in this period. Unlike big band, with its elaborate orchestras of twenty-five pieces capped off by the handsome, well dressed front man, folk music primarily tended to include musicians who just had an acoustic guitar, three piece bands, and less that spectacular voices. There were no large audiences, no outstanding recording equipment. It was just people, their guitars, and their messages.  And yet their music gives us a good indication as well of how American society remembered World War II.  Unlike Crosby or Torme, folk singers who developed their genre through the depths of the Great Depression, did not pull punches in their lyrics aout war.  None of the messages were implied or inferred, these singers just came out and said what what on their mind.  The fiercely anti-fascist Woody Guthrie wrote in Ballad of October 16, "We won't be safe until everybody is dead." In his song Freedom Road, Josh White says "nobody's gonna keep me from marching down Freedom Road."  The difference between the folk singers and the big band singers is that the folk musicians seemed to sing more directly about the war. Big band vocalists would talk about the missing of a loved one, with large orchestrations and complex arrangements, or siblings would sing together like the Andrew Sisters with their version of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys of Company B.  Folk writers wrote how they felt, and as we'll see in the next war discussed in this project, they would be the main inspiration for a later generation and would be heard more than ever before in th era of Vietnam.
 

While in the United States the music was bright and optimistic, in Germany there was horror everywhere. Perhaps the most unthinkable and unbelieveable tragedy of the century (it is very disturbing it happened only fifty years ago), the Holocaust makes one feel that Bing Crosby, Mel Torme, and Big Band music inhabit another planet.  One man who has captured these horrific emotions of genocide is modern AMerican composer Benjamin Lees, whose Symphony No. 4 "Memorial Candles," using the harrowing poetry of Nelly Sachs with his music, is very effective in giving the listener a musical idea of the tragedy that was the Holocaust. Lees talked about his piece: "During the writing of this work I realized that while the texts were important in creating the imagery and the orchestra acting as the source of power, another element was needed. Since the violin was traditionally the 'soul' instrument of Central and Eastern Europe, I decided to give it a distinctive role in this symphony..."¹  Indeed the violin is a strong speaker in this piece, which comes to a climax in the final movement But who emptied your shoes of sand.  Lees says of the movement, "The principal subject is hurled out quite suddenly and developed...A development of the principal subject takes over and leads to a second subject evoking memories of something from the past...The poem ends and a dirge-like subject makes its appearance, softly at first, but with growing power, leading inexorably to the final episode. Trumpets and timpani erupt violently, then fade as the violin makes a brief, final statement and holds as the work comes to its conclusion."²  Lees gives the listener an idea of what it must have been like during the Holocaust. Like big band and folk did in America, Lees' look at the Holocaust shows how music really was a reflection of the society, both American and German, at the time of this remarkable time of the century, and in the years that have followed.