Charlie & His Orchestra

Years before both Allan Sherman and the publishers of Mad Magazine perfected the art of superimposing clever lyrics over existing popular melodies, Nazi propagandists hit upon the idea and used it to generate big-band dance music with altered verses sung in English to be aired over shortwave radio in order to undermine morale among British and Allied Armed Forces personnel. The first attempt at this hybrid form of propaganda was ridiculously rigid and unbelievable; the "British Soldier's Song" recorded October 11, 1939 had phrases like "you must die for Poland" sung in thickly...