John Mccormack
Keep The Home Fires Burning

The American Quartet
It’s A Long Way To Tipperary

Al Jolson
You Made Me Love You

Marion Harris
After You’ve Gone

The American Quartet
When You Wore A Tulip

Marie Lloyd
A Little Of What You Fancy Does You Good

The American Quartet
Chinatown, My Chinatown

John Mccormack
The Sunshine Of Your Smile

Billy Murray
K-K-K-Katy

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Tiger Rag

John Mccormack
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Enrico Caruso
Over There

The Peerless Quartet
I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier

Peter Dawson
The Cobbler’s Song

Richard Tauber
Roses Of Picardy

Deanna Durbin
Home, Sweet Home

Paul Robeson
Jerusalem

Webster Booth & Anne Ziegler
If You Were The Only Girl In The World

The Andrews Sisters
Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh

Judy Garland & Gene Kelly
For Me And My Gal

Bing Crosby
Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral

Doris Day
Pretty Bby

Al Jolson
Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody

Kathryn Grayson
They Didn’t Believe Me

Bing & Gary Crosby
Play A Simple Melody

Paul Robeson
A Perfect Day

To mark the centenary of The Great War, Retrospective presents a fascinating musical portrait of the recordings people enjoyed while they “kept the home fires burning” and of the songs written during that cataclysmic period. There was plenty of jingoism (Over There!), but even more escapism (If You Were The Only Girl In The World), and perhaps the strongest thread was one of pure nostalgia for simple love (Roses Of Picardy). The programme is split into two halves with the first 13 tracks consisting of original recordings made at the time by such as John McCormack (The Sunshine Of Your Smile), Billy Murray (K-K-K-Katy) and Al Jolson (You Made Me Love You), in which the sentiments still shine through the primitive pre-electrical sound. The second half features a baker’s dozen of the most popular songs of 1914-1918 as interpreted by later artists – Paul Robeson (A Perfect Day), Bing Crosby (Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral) and so on – the revivals often being inspired by World War II.