"(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" is a popular World War II song composed in 1941 by Walter Kent to lyrics by Nat Burton.
The song was written about a year after the Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe aircraft had been fighting over southern England, including the white cliffs of Dover, in the Battle of Britain.
The American lyricist, Nat Burton, wrote his lyric (perhaps unaware that the bluebird is not indigenous to Britain, though the migrant Swallow 'Bluebird' is a well known British harbinger of Spring and Summer) and asked Kent to set it to music.
The lyrics looked toward a time when the war would be over, and peace would rule over the iconic white cliffs, Britain's symbolic border with the European mainland.
[3] Jimmie Baker frequently performed it in Europe during the war,[4] and the song was sung by the vocal group The King's Men on a 3 February 1942 episode of the Fibber McGee and Molly Show.
Other artists who have recorded the song include Connie Francis, Bing Crosby, Ray Conniff, Jim Reeves, Acker Bilk, The Righteous Brothers (a hit in the UK Singles Chart), Steeleye Span, Bert Kaempfert and The Hot Sardines on their debut album released in 2014.
[6] In 1995, British pop duo Robson & Jerome recorded the song as part of a double A-side release, coupled with "Unchained Melody"; the single stayed at No.
On 18 February 2009, a story in The Daily Telegraph announced that Dame Vera Lynn was suing the British National Party (BNP) for using her version of "The White Cliffs of Dover" on an anti-immigration album without her permission.