Miller was only 40 years old that December day he clambered aboard the C-64 Norseman and set out for France. He never arrived, of course, a loss that it is no exaggeration to say shook the United States and its armed forces. Mystery and rumor long surrounded the aircraft’s disappearance. One prominent theory was that RAF Lancaster bombers returning from an aborted mission had accidentally hit his plane with jettisoned bombs over the English Channel.
I found a more plausible answer while researching my 2017 book, Glenn Miller Declassified. Newly released government documents described the Eighth Air Force’s own investigation of the disaster: The plane, which had a history of carburetor icing problems and hydraulic fluid leaks, most likely froze up and experienced engine failure at low altitude over the frigid sea. To this day, explorers seek the mangled debris of the C-64 among the thousands of pieces of World War II aircraft that litter the English Channel. But the wreckage of the plane that carried Miller has never been found.
Seventy five years later, the Glenn Miller Orchestra—still muted and satin-smooth—continues to open and close every appearance with “Moonlight Serenade.”
How ‘Moonlight Serenade’ Defined a Generation
By Dennis M. Spragg
Smithsonian Magazine
November 2019
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=socialmedia
I refuse to patronize a restaurant or a store that pipes in loud, offensive, music. The music is bad enough, but female vocalists are not singing —— they scream the lyrics so loudly they can drown out a marching band.
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. William Congreve (1670–1729)
I do not know about rocks and knotted oaks, but I believe the part about the savage beast. All music used to sooth. As Socialism gained ground in our society some very destructive individuals, determined to assert their “artistic” independence in the government-imposed mediocrity of the times set about proving that music could also unleash the beast within; hence, the ugliness that is heard in so much contemporary music.
The American Revolution and the Civil War have songs associated those conflicts. (I know of no song associated with the Korean or Vietnam Wars.) This recording by Glenn Miller will always define World War Two:
The Greatest Generation danced and dreamed to a song in order to forget the horrors of a brutal war. One wonders which recording the hateful generation will dance to during the next world war?
Rebellious teens today, as in every generation, resent parental control of any kind. The difference with today’s young rebels is that they willingly subject themselves to control by the most hideous music ever heard; never realizing how they are being manipulated by the sound of music simply to arouse the brutish creature lurking in everyone.
To me, and to many others, the violence that is so prevalent among some young people is directly related to the music kids listen to. And it is not the lyrics that I am talking about, although political statement lyrics are a small part of it. I am not saying that every youngster listening to such music is committing acts of violence. It is more an ugliness of the soul that is spreading to a larger number of teenage Americans each succeeding year.
Alas! all music jars when the soul’s out of tune.” Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616)
Cervantes never dreamed that one day music would be specifically formulated to vanquish souls.
And the music is incessant —— it is with some kids almost all of time as though they are trying to drown out everything else. I fear that once today’s troubled youngsters become saturated they will be so horribly scarred by a segment of their culture they will see themselves as victims. That view will make them prime recruits for Socialism’s evils as the country is pushed closer to pure Communism.
Submission becomes a habit difficult to break whether it starts with obedience to music’s subliminal message, or it begins with an oppressive political system, the result is the same. On the day that America is beyond turning away from Socialism the beast will reign.
From the day the march toward big government began, young iconoclasts struggled to establish their uniqueness; to rise above the crowd. Today’s would-be nonconformists are the most frightening conformists among us.
I always considered recorded music the sound of history. Recordings can accurately provide a partial account of a select time period or event because recordings represent what a generation literally hears.