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When I set out to put together this history told through sound, I knew well that at times music would become less important. I didn’t realise that, at a moment when music was taking bold leaps forward, it would nevertheless seem to be very much besides the point. But here we are. It’s 1945 and, while there is some brilliant, revolutionary music in this mix, the history part has risen to the surface. Around half of the runtime here is speech of one sort or another, and for once I cannot imagine it being any other way.

The speech here begins in January 1945, and ends some time in May. In those short four and a half months, the invasion of Germany (from both sides) has taken place, The Americans have landed on Iwo Jima, The Yalta Conference has taken place, Germany has been obliterated and then surrendered, Hitler, Roosevelt and Mussolini have died, and the atrocities carried out by the Nazis have been discovered. To have lived through this time, wherever you were in the world, would have been at the very least disorienting. For the survivors it would determine the next half century. In a sense we are still feeling the reverberations. It would have been ridiculous not to make this the main focus.

The music we have here includes some of the first professional recordings of the music now known as bebop, some jump blues, plenty of other genres from around the time. Some of the music is from early 1945, some is from late 1945. There was no great leap from one half to the other, so please excuse the slightly sloppy compromise here. There will be time to discuss music in part two.

There are horrors to be found in this mix, for sure, but some are so unspeakable that it even seemed disgusting to try to pair them with music of any sort. Even putting them with other, lighter news seemed impossible. As the Allies invaded Germany, attached reporters brought back first hand accounts of the atrocities carried out in concentration camps. Even in audio only form these are harrowing, and editing sections together was a grim, miserable duty, but one that had to be done. These things cannot be left out of our history, so here they are. I have separated them from the rest of the mix – you can find them as a twenty minute epilogue, starting three hours and twelve minutes in. If you don’t feel you can listen to that (and I won’t blame you) then you can stop the mix there.

Tracklist

January

0:00:00 Dizzy Gillespie – Bebop
(Clip from 1945 01 17 BBC Will Hay Programme)
(Clip from 1945 01 28 CBS World News Today)
0:01:23 Dizzy Gillespie – Salt Peanuts
(Clips from 1945 01 06 FDR Fireside Chat On Battle Of The Bulge)
0:04:14 Mary Lou Williams – Taurus
(Clip from 1945 01 07 CBS World News Today)
0:06:52 Lionel Hampton – Beulah´s Boogie
(Clip from 1945 01 07 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1945 01 14 CBS World News Today)
0:10:14 Betty Hutton – Stuff Like That There
(Clip from 1945 01 14 NBCB Yanks In The Orient)
0:13:10 Bidu Sayao – Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, for voice & 8 cellos
(Clips from 1945 01 19 WCCO Noon Newscast – Cedric Adams)
0:16:17 Lata Mangeshkar – Aankhon Ke Taare
(Clip from 1945 01 17 BBC Will Hay Programme)
(Clip from 1945 01 28 WMCA Healys Open House – Nylon Stockings)
0:18:44 Xavier Cugat – Oye Negra
(Clip from 1945 01 30 RRG Adolf Hitler – Last Broadcast)
0:21:02 Johnny Otis & His Orchestra – Harlem Nocturne
(Clip from The Body Snatcher)

February

(Clips from 1945 02 09 WEAF Evening News with Don Hollenbeck)
0:24:38 John Halik – Malo Kolo
(Clip from 1945 02 12 FDR Returns From Allied Conference At Yalta)
0:27:54 Charlie Parker – Red Cross
(Clips from 1945 02 18 CBS World News Today)
0:31:15 Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup – Rock Me Mama
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Arthur Prim Reports The First Strikes On Iwo Jima)
0:32:57 NBC Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Astrid Varnay – Schoenberg String quartet no. 2
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Iwo Flight Arthur Prim)
(Clip from 1945 02 19 CAN Sgt Mawson On Iwo Jima Landings)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Secretary Of The Navy James Forrestal On The Battle Of Iwo Jima)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx NBC Battle for Iwo Jima Bud Foster)
(Clip from 1945 02 19 MBS On Iwo Battleship Leslie Nichols)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx CAN Iwo Jima Underground Fortifications)
(Clip from 1945 02 22 Tank Communications In Battle For Iwo Jima)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Bud Foster From Flagship Of Admiral Kelly Turner)
(Clip from 1945 02 xx NBC Battle for Iwo Jima Bud Foster)
(Clip from 1945 02 25 CAN Secretary Of The Navy James Forrestal On The Battle Of Iwo Jima)
0:41:49 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Texas Playboy Rag
(Clip from 1945 02 22 CBS The March Of Time How American Wives Are Faring)
(Clips from 1945 02 20 Inner Sanctum – No Coffin for the Dead)
0:44:25 Don Byas and Slam Stewart – Indiana
(Clips from 1945 02 20 Inner Sanctum – No Coffin for the Dead)
0:48:18 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – You’ll Always Hurt The One You Love
(Clip from 1945 02 22 CBS The March Of Time How American Wives Are Faring)
0:51:13 Duke Ellington – Suddenly It Jumped
(Clip from 1945 02 25 NBCB Jergens Journal Walter Winchell)

March

0:55:39 Illinois Jacquet and his All Stars – Jacquet Mood
(Clip from 1945 03 01 FDR Last Address Before Congress)
(Clip from 1945 03 01 CBC Fred Tilston Wins Victoria Cross For Attack In Germany)
0:58:05 Jay McShann – Trouble in My Mind
(Clip from 1945 03 03 MBS Leslie Nichols Reports As Battleship Destroys Plane)
(Clips from 1945 03 04 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1945 03 05 CBC A Soldier At The Breaking Point Matthew Halton)
1:01:21 T Bone Walker – Mean Old World
(Clip from 1945 03 08 BBC Ian Wilson Reports Americans Cross The Rhine)
(Clip from 1945 03 08 BBC Freddy Grisewood – Remagen Bridge Crossed)
(Clip from 1945 03 11 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 03 11 BBC Chester Wilmot Reports From Montgomerys HQ)
1:04:29 Anjos do Inferno – Bolinha De Papel
(Clips from 1945 03 08 – It’s That Man Again)
1:06:56 Cozy Cole – Strictly Drums
(Clips from 1945 03 15 CBS The March Of Time Report Of Vatican Policies)
(Clip from 1945 03 17 CBS Report To The Nation Wendy Barrie)
(Clip from 1945 03 22 CBS The March Of Time Black Marketeers In France)
1:11:21 Peggy Lee – Waitin’ For The Train To Come In
(Clip from 1945 03 18 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 03 21 BBC Richard Sharpe – General Slims 14 Army In Mandalay)
(Clip from 1945 03 22 CBS The March Of Time Black Marketeers In France)
(Clip from 1945 03 26 NBC World News Roundup)
1:15:34 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – The Blue Danube
(Clip from 1945 03 23 NBC Alka Seltzer News Of The World)
1:18:02 Richard Dimbleby – Reports on Glider Landing, 1945 03 24
(Clip from 1945 03 24 BBC W V Thomas Awaiting To Cross The Rhine)
(Clips from 1945 03 25 BBC Robert Barr Reports Winston Churchill Crosses The Rhine)
(Clip from 1945 03 25 CAN Stanley Maxted Recounts German Attack On Hamilcar)
(Clips from 1945 03 25 CBS World News Today)
1:25:46 Sammy Price – 133rd Street Boogie
(Clip from 1945 03 29 CBS The March Of Time The Kitchen Of Tomorrow)
(Clip from 1945 03 28 BBC Stuart McPherson Reports From Germany)
(Clip from 1945 03 31 BBC British Soldier Released From OFLAG 12B)
(Clip from 1945 03 31 BBC Wynford Vaughan Thomas Reports On The Spearhead)
(Clip from 1945 03 26 NBC World News Roundup)

April

(Clip from 1945 04 03 NBC War Report on the Battle of Okinawa Bud Foster)
1:30:29 The Rambler Trio feat. Arthur Smith – Guitar Boogie
(Clip from 1945 04 05 CBS The March of Time First Recorded Sounds of Mosquitos)
1:35:14 Ssekinomu – Wireless
(Clip from 1945 04 05 WBZ Yankee Yarns – Fishing Boat Sunk By U Boat)
1:36:19 Gene Krupa Orchestra – Boogie Blues
(Clip from 1945 04 08 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 04 08 BBC Richard Dimbleby Reports on German Civilian Reaction)
(Clip from 1945 04 08 CBS World News Today)
1:39:42 Lionel Hampton – Loose Wig
(Clip from 1945 04 12 News Death Of FDR CBS ABC)
(Clips from 1945 04 12 MBS Fulton Lewis Reports FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 12 NBCB Coverage Of FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 12 WNYC Fiorello La Guardia On FDR)
(Clips from 1945 04 12 CBS Don Fisher Coverage Following FDRs Death)
1:45:13 Christine Johnson, Jan Clayton and Chorus – You’ll Never Walk Alone
(Clip from 1945 04 12 CBS Bill Henry Reports On Order Of Succession)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 BBC News Dora Bateman Commentary On FDRs Death)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1945 04 13 NBC News)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 CBS Memorial Services For Franklin D Roosevelt)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 NBC Reports On FDRs Funeral Train)
(Clips from 1945 04 13 Undelivered FDR Speech Given by FDR Jr)
(Clip from 1945 04 15 NBC Our Hour Of National Sorrow)
(Clip from 1945 04 15 WMCA New World a Coming – 43 Memorial to Franklin D Roosevelt)
(Clip from 1945 04 16 President Truman Addesses Congress After FDRs Funeral)
(Clip from 1945 04 17 CBS This Is My Best I Will Not Go Back FDR)
(Clip from 1945 04 17 President Truman On The Death Of President Roosevelt)
1:56:18 Louisia Tounsia – Ala Bab Darek
(Clip from 1945 04 17 CBC Canadian Army Repels Desperate Germans)
(Clip from 1945 04 18 CBS Ernie Pyle Killed In Action)
(Clip from 1945 04 20 CBC Allied POWs Free At Last RCAF Warren Wilkes)
(Cli