Now Is The Hour - Gracie Fields and a New Zealand Lullaby Turned Global Goodbye

In this episode of The A to Z of Wartime Song, hosts Lili Redman and Tom Carradine explore the poignant and poetic “Now Is the Hour”, a wartime farewell song which started life in New Zealand.

They trace the tune’s journey from the 1913 piano piece “Swiss Cradle Song” through its Maori adaptation as “Po Atarau”, to its powerful role in farewelling ANZAC soldiers and its eventual transformation into the global hit we know today. Alongside Gracie Fields’ famous rendition, the episode spotlights the many competing recordings that flooded the charts in 1948, including versions by Bing Crosby, Margaret Whiting and many more.

Lili also shares her deep admiration for Gracie Fields, tracing her extraordinary life from Rochdale to Capri, including her tireless wartime service, a battle with serious illness and the controversies that followed her across the Atlantic.

REFERENCES

TankFest 2025
https://tankmuseum.org/

Capel Military Show
https://www.capelmilitaryshow.com/

The People’s Mosquito
https://www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk/
https://www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk/2025/06/24/ibccdedication/

Gracie Field’s
http://graciefields.org/wordpress/

Sally in our Alley
https://youtu.be/QdJxfECY4aM?si=3Ohm-SPp7r6UCE_n

Gracie sings “Sally” on the Royal Variety Performance (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoaHT3JMu4k

Shipyard Sally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZIOAlMZRSU

Little Man in a Bowler Hat
http://graciefields.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Strube.jpg

La Canzone del Mare (Capri)
https://www.lacanzonedelmare.com/

Now Is The Hour - History of the Various Versions
https://www.folksong.org.nz/poatarau/

Red White and Navy Blue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMoykfXymaw&list=RDtMoykfXymaw&start_radio=1

Rolling wheels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aly2h-KXDyk&list=RDaly2h-KXDyk&start_radio=1

Maori Battalion March to Victory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXUrSnM5Q2I&list=RDkXUrSnM5Q2I&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvEAggml5co

For We Are the Boys of the Southern Cross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6odUsiIldzU&list=RD6odUsiIldzU&start_radio=1

Songs We Sang - Les Cleveland
https://rnzaoc.com/2019/08/23/the-songs-we-sang/  

Sons of Gallipoli
https://youtu.be/N19p71z5iVI?si=A3tvI1eYH2XCrEid

Glenn Miller Festival, Clarinda, Iowa
https://www.glennmiller.org/festival

Twinwood Festival
https://twinwoodevents.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
00:50 Catch Up
03:03 N = Now Is The Hour
03:49 Gracie Fields
04:25 Gracie's Early Years
05:15 Gracie's Rise to Fame
06:34 Gracie's Marriage to Archie Pitt
07:38 "Sally in our Alley"
09:58 Gracie's Charity Work
11:25 Gracie's Health Struggles and Public Support
17:11 Gracie's Return to the Stage and Wartime Work
19:28 Marriage to Monty Banks
21:33 Gracie's Post-War Career
22:04 Marriage to Boris Alperovici
22:26 Gracie's "Miss Marple"
23:41 Life in Capri and Celebrity Connections
25:08 Gracie's Final Years
25:58 The Origins of "Now Is The Hour"
30:00 Gracie's Discovery of the Song
32:41 Other Post-