Despite characterizing jazz as "Entartete musik", ironically the Third Reic… Read Full Bio ↴Despite characterizing jazz as "Entartete musik", ironically the Third Reich had their own swing band for propaganda purposes. German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels conceived of using the style in short wave radio broadcasts aimed at the United States and particularly the United Kingdom. British listeners heard the band every Wednesday and Saturday at around 9 pm.

The purpose of the band was to stir pro-Nazi sympathy, draw attention to World War II Allied losses, and carry Adolf Hitler's messages in an entertaining form. The songs stressed how badly the war was going for the target audience, and how it was only going to be a matter of time before they would be beaten.

Led by German accented front man Karl Schwedler ("Charlie"), conducted by Lutz Templin, and paced by drummer Fritz "Freddie" Brocksieper, the band included Kurt Abraham on reeds and Willy Berking on trombone. The group formed in 1940, making over 90 recordings between March 1941 and February 1943. Arrangements were by Templin, Willy Berking, and Franz Mück, with lyrics written by the Propagandaministerium. Schwedler was allowed permission to travel to neutral and occupied countries to collect jazz and dance music, which helped the band and propaganda ministry to craft more recordings.

Popular American swing songs - and popular British tunes/songs - were initially performed true to the original, until about the second or third verse which were replaced by pro-German lyrics and monologues. For example, in the tune You're Driving Me Crazy, Schwedler croons about the confusion of new love, and in the third verse continues: Here is Winston Churchill's latest tear-jerker: Yes, the Germans are driving me crazy / I thought I had brains / But they shot down my planes..." Later, the entire lyric would be modified, clearly based on the original. The band even recorded some "cover versions" of the originals, unaltered.

Indeed, anecdotal accounts indicate that Winston Churchill enjoyed the broadcasts, finding the lyrics hilarious.

Many of the members of Charlie and his Orchestra went on to successful careers in music after the war.

You
Charlie and His Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You always hurt the one you love
The one you shouldn't hurt at all
You always take the sweetest rose
And crush it till the petals fall
You always break the kindest heart
With a hasty word you can't recall
So If I broke your heart last night,
It's because I love you most of all

Overall Meaning

The song “You Stepped Out of a Dream” by Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, and Brad Mehldau is a romantic ballad that expresses admiration and longing for someone who has captured the heart of the singer. The lyrics suggest that the person is so wonderful that they almost seem unreal, like a dream. The singer is captivated by their eyes, lips, and smiles, which are described as honest and truly remarkable. The person is compared to a cloud, suggesting that their arrival is unexpected and magical.

The singer expresses a desire to be alone with the person, away from the crowds, and to keep them safe in their heart. The song is full of romantic imagery, and the repetition of the lines “You stepped out of a dream” and “You are too wonderful to be what you seem” creates a dreamlike atmosphere, as if the singer can’t quite believe that the person is real.

Overall, “You Stepped Out of a Dream” is a beautiful love song that captures the feeling of falling in love and being overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of another person.

Line by Line Meaning

You stepped out of a dream
I am in awe of your presence as if you have stepped out of a dream

You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
You are too amazing to simply be what you appear to be

Could there be eyes like yours,
I am amazed by your captivating eyes

Could there be lips like yours
I am charmed by your lovely lips

Could there be smiles like yours,
I am enchanted by your sweet smiles

Honest and truly?
I wonder if your beauty is real

You stepped out of a cloud
It's as if you emerged from the heavens above

I want to take you away, away from the crowd
I wish to whisk you away from this busy crowd

And have you all to myself,
I want to be alone with you

Alone and apart out of a dream,
Just you and I together, as if in a dream

Safe in my heart
I will cherish you and keep you close to my heart

Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Allan Roberts, Doris Fisher

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

@hrbooksmusic7878

2y↑1

@@GrzegorzSkoczylas
Thank you, sir, for your answer. (Which, 9 months later, seems to be gone... Or is there a failure in the program...? 🤔)
It‘s interesting that you see Germany in the position of a leader of the EU... In my opinion France took over awhile ago. I‘m not even sure whether Germany really, really wants to take the lead (sometimes, in dreams) - most of the time Germans are too busy striving to please everyone, something a true leader cannot afford. You usually get either respect or love. Germans want to be liked even more than respected, so they often end up entangled in foul compromises...
I do not agree that Western politicians in particular are hypocrites - I‘d rather say that most politicians all over the world tend to be hypocritical. But there‘s one thing we just can‘t deny: That all politicians in all countries are responsible for their own people, and sometimes for their own people first. They have taken an oath to work for the interests of their respective country and its citizens (which of course doesn‘t mean to neglect the responsibility toward the world completely!) They are obliged to try and keep their country out of harm‘s way. Ukrainian politicians do nothing else by demanding full support from the West. They do it for their country and their people, not for the sake of the whole world. Some of them are even willing to risk another World War by making impossible demands that could provoke this very World War. It‘s understandable - but it‘s not reasonable.
Furthermore, it‘s completely useless to divide the world into black and white, good and bad. It‘s been done before, and sadly nothing good ever came of it.
Good people on all sides. Bad people on all sides. Good people in Ukraine, good people in Russia. Good people in the West, good people in the East. And just the opposite as well! Accusations that don‘t see the whole picture as well as the many tiny detailed ones lead to nothing.
As long as the enemy is in our heads, there will be no understanding, no tolerance, and no peace.
We could go on talking - about the EU for instance... but this is not the time or place.
Take care and stay safe whereever you are!

All comments from YouTube:

@AlexisKasperavicius

2y↑10

Thank you so much for posting! This stuff is of huge historical interest!

@henryhallfan

2y↑6

Out of the propaganda recordings I have heard, this one flows together the best in my opinion. Very interesting and rare piece of history!

@jurivlk5433

2y↑13

These times are coming back. But without the good music, as propagandistic it may have been! 1930-45 propaganda was more or less overt. Today, it is much more subtile. Anyway, let's enjoy the music!

@darker_angel5463

44w↑1

Ah informagional warfare through the internet

@tedlawrence4189

33w↑2

I have collected 78's since 1970. I have a huge and valuable collection. I do not however have any of these very clever German progaganda discs. Here is a bit of trivia for collectors: Both Germany and England used a higher quality shellac on their 78's. US used cheaper and more gritty quality.

@Finglesham

1y↑3

Heard this stuff last week on SKY. I was amused by this and thought how incredible to waste resources on it by the Germans. My parents did not mention it and my father was in the invasion forces. The British would have had a laugh as we understand satire, but the Nazi? No idea/

@Oldtimemusiclover

Would this record be for sale?

@HansPaetsch-yf7tc

44w↑3

It should be Propaganda. But it sounds like an unintentional parody.

@andretoivonen9737

say what you want about the lyrics but the music is cool (Y)

@iq1548

48w↑2

He didn't say 'no homo' so i really don't know what to make of this...

@grandmastalin7796

1y↑3

But why did they sing in English??
I thought they were German , I'm so confused

@ronanh6356

These were broadcast to the English/American public in an effort to demoralise them. The Nazis considered both Jazz and Swing to be “racially impure” and therefor unfit for German Consumption due to its origins.

@balboatarandino

1y↑7

They sang propaganda for the english listeners

@blockhead0309

1y↑5

They sing in English so you can understand them lol, they are still German and so much so that it involuntarily bleeds into their forced British accents. Charlie is Karl Schwedler, and "his orchestra" is actually Lutz Templin's orchestra, which if I'm not mistaken was all instrumentals and German singing, before "Charlie" was introduced during the war effort. They were played on international radio broadcasts known as "Germany Calling", where music like this and others would be played in between talk-show news radio segments. This particular song was (likely) broadcast to England, the US, and or other English-speaking "allies" and neutrals. There's also people who say some of their music was broadcast to Axis POW camps, though I'm unsure whether there's really any truth to that so I won't say it with certainty. Something about the idea that they attempted to torture prisoners with good music, seems a little shaky and absurd to me.

@koen0th

50w

I like how they replaced Camembert with swiss cheese😂, they should have gone with Gouda in my opinion

@GrzegorzSkoczylas

2y↑2

Nice music. 1942 - the middle of World War II. Back then, the Germans still thought they would be the victors in all of Europe and beyond. In German recordings from later years, you mostly don't hear such joyful notes anymore. It is sad to see the German reactions to the war in Ukraine. I have the impression that Germans did not remember that lesson.

Sorry for this off-topic comment, but we all see what is happening in Ukraine and watch with shame and regret the pathetic reaction of the so-called West.

@hrbooksmusic7878

2y↑1

Isn‘t it great how Germany is still an excellent scapegoat today!? Let something bad happen in the world - we can blame it on Germany! If nothing else, this is at least a wonderful distraction from everyone else’s crimes and omissions... Everyone likes to take German money, though... Germany is like the unloved uncle who foots the bill... Long may he live and remain solvent! (Which I doubt... Germany seems to be running out of money... with the Bundeswehr already being in shambles... Maybe that‘s why they can‘t deliver the heavy weapons requested... Or is it pure malice again...?)
I keep praying for the people in Ukraine... and for all GOOD PEOPLE in all countries...

@GrzegorzSkoczylas

@@hrbooksmusic7878 I am very far from accusing the Germans of all the world's faults. However, we all know that Germany has ambitions to be the leader of the EU and, in fact, it is the leader. We expect more from a leader than from the other members, do we not?

I am not just accusing Germany. Western politicians are hypocrites, unfortunately. They have mouths full of lofty slogans, but when you look at their actions, it looks wan. Sanctions? Of course, but not for oil and gas. Only for oil and gas does Russia continue to receive EUR 600 million a day from the EU, and yet there are still non-EU countries.