There'll Always Be an England
"There'll Always Be an England" is an English patriotic song, written and distributed in the summer of 1939, which became highly popular following the outbreak of the Second World War. It was composed and written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. A popular version was sung by Vera Lynn.History
In its lyrics, the song invokes various clichés of English rural life, liberty, and Imperial power. It is best known for its chorus:
The song first appeared in Discoveries, a 1939 film by Carroll Levis, where it was sung by the boy soprano Glyn Davies. After war broke out on 1 September, the song became a hit for Vera Lynn. Within the first two months of the war, 200,000 copies of the sheet music were sold. The song was used to express British patriotic defiance in the finale of Two Thousand Women, a successful 1944 film starring Phyllis Calvert and Patricia Roc about women interned by the Germans in occupied France.
A version of this song was sung by Tiny Tim. The punk band The Sex Pistols entered on stage to this tune in 2008.
