Hit songs of 1945 included: AcCent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, by Johnny Mercer; Sentimental Journey, by Les Brown with Doris Day; Rum and Coca-Cola, by The Andrews Sisters; There! I've Said It Again, by Vaughn Monroe; Chickery Chick, by Sammy Kaye; I Can't Begin to Tell You, by Bing Crosby; It's Been a Long, Long Time, by Harry James, also Bing Crosby; My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time, by Les Brown; On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, by Johnny Mercer; and Till the End of Time, by Perry Como Plus, of course, there were the wartime classics...

Lilli Marlene was probably the Second World War's biggest song, if only because both sides called it their own.

It belonged to the Germans first.

Two soldiers on the Russian front wrote it in 1915, but it was not until the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1940 that it became a hit. An army only travels with a few discs, and so one of those played repeatedly on captured Radio Belgrade was Lilli Marlene.

From there, a version by Lale Anderson (who, ironically, was anti-Nazi) was taken up by the Deutches Afrika Korps.

But in 1942 the British Eighth Army heard it and took it prisoner. Tommie Connor hurriedly recorded it, but it really hit the right note when Marlene Dietrich (top left), another anti-Nazi German singer, added it to her repertoire in 1943. Remember the words?

Underneath the lantern by the barrack gate, Darling I remember the way you used to wait, 'Twas there that you whispered tenderly, That you loved me, You'd always be, My Lili of the lamplight, My own Lili Marlene.

THE Allies most popular song was probably Roll Out the Barrel, which was the Second World War's equivalent of a previous generation's Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag.

Properly called The Beer Barrel Polka, it was a good knees-up without any pretensions towards patriotism, ideology or sentimentality. With its reference to "the blues", it even had a nod towards the Americans.

Roll out the barrel - we'll have a barrel of fun.

Roll out the barrel - we've got the blues on the run.

Zing! Boom! Tararre! Ring out a song of good cheer.

Now's the time to roll the barrel - for the gang's all here.

WHO could forget Vera Lynn (top rright), the Forces Sweetheart whose 30-minute wireless show went out on Sundays after the nine o'clock news.

One of her signature tunes was 1939's mournfully hopeful We'll Meet Again, which in America also provided wartime hits for Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians (1941), Kay Kaiser and Benny Goodman (both 1942).

We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day Keep smilin' through Just like you always do Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away So will you please say hello To the folks that I know?

Tell them I won't be long They'll be happy to know That as you saw me go I was singing this song.

AND finally Vera, who also did a popular version of Lili Marlene, recorded the White Cliffs of Dover in 1942. In the US, Kay Kaiser and His Orchestra took it to the top of the Billboard charts with Harry Babbitt doing the vocals.

There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover Tomorrow, just you wait and see There'll be love and laughter and peace ever after Tomorrow when the world is free.

(The shepherd will tend his sheep) (The valley will bloom again) And Jimmy will go to sleep In his own little room again.

There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover Tomorrow, just you wait and see.