Lili Marleen

Lili Marleen, German song popular during World War II among both German and Allied soldiers. Hans Leip (1893–1983) began writing the lyrics in 1914 or 1915, reputedly while standing guard duty one night under a lamppost (“Vor der Kaserne vor dem grossen Tor stand eine Laterne”; “Underneath the lantern by the barrack gate”). “Lili Marleen” was a composite of his own girlfriend Lili and a comrade’s girlfriend Marleen. Leip did not finish the verses for publication until 1937, when, as a poem, it appeared in his collection Die Kleine Hafenorgel (“A Little Harbour Organ”); a year later, music for it was composed by Norbert Schultze (b. 1911). The song did not become popular until after Aug. 18, 1941, when it was first broadcast to Allied troops in North Africa on Nazi propaganda radio. The song, first sung by a German cabaret singer, Lale Andersen, became especially famous in the version recorded by the German-American movie star Marlene Dietrich.