Connie Francis – Lili Marleen (German Version) lyrics

. The song was considered a march song and march music was out of fashion. The song was based on a poem written by Hans Leip around the time of World War I. The poem was put to music by Norbert Schultze in 1938
That song was Lili Marleen.
To some Lili Marleen is a street walker. To other's she is one's true love. To every soldier in the desert, be he Desert Rat or Afrika Korps, she was the woman he left behind. Indeed, the song Lili Marlen is often called the Anthem of the Desert Warrior.
Neither the Nazi leaders or the Allied Command embraced the song, officially. In fact both tried to ban the song at one time or another. But in the end, the emotions of the average soldier, German, French, British, American, and every other nationality that served in the North African desert looked upon the song as "their song". In fact the British actually took the German song and had it translated for their troops.
In 1939 Lale Andersen recorded the song under protest, not wanting to be associated with a "march" song. Joseph Goebbels hated the song and promptly banned it from play but it eventually made the air ways and by the time Rommel landed in North Africa the song was being played over Radio Belgrade in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. Rommel liked it and asked for it to be played more often. It became a hit.
Lale Andersen, Vera Lynn, and Anne Shelton would all later produce wartime English versions. German versions were also recorded by Willi Fritch and Mimi Thoma Eventually Marlene Dietrich, a former German star who came to Hollywood to escape the Nazis recorded it in English for the Americans. She also recorded the song in German. Those who did not already know the song, knew it once Dietrich sang it.
The BBC produced an anti-Hitler parody of the song in 1943 titled Lucy Mannheim.
(Discovered this on a web site when I was looking for the original artist who sang it during War time.)

Lilli Marleen became one of the most beloved songs of WW2. The German version, sung by Marlene Dietrich, was probably the most popular version. A true love story of girlfriends left behind. After Dietrich recorded the song in English, it became an international hit popular on both sides. It is a beautiful song of true love