''The Dam Busters'' is the theme for the 1955 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

'' The Dam Busters''. The musical composition, by Eric Coates, has become synonymous with both the film and the real

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using spe ...

. ''The Dam Busters March'' remains a very popular accompaniment to

flypast ''FlyPast'' is an aircraft magazine, published monthly, edited by Tom Allett, Steve Beebee and Jamie Ewan. History and profile The magazine started as a bi-monthly edition in May/June 1981 and its first editor was the late Mike Twite. It is ow ...

s in the UK.

Origins

Coates's son, Austin Coates, recounted in a BBC radio interview that the march was not written for ''The Dam Busters''. His father had been carrying out an exercise in composing a

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

that emulated the musical forms of

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, such as in the '' Pomp and Circumstance Marches''. A few days after completing the composition Coates was contacted by the film's producers. Coates had a profound dislike of writing film music and turned down the producers' numerous requests. Not until they told him that this was "a film of national importance" did he agree. On hearing more about the film, he came to the conclusion that the piece he had just finished would be a perfect overture. The march was performed for the film by the Associated British Studio Orchestra. The film's musical score was completed by Leighton Lucas.

Other usage

The Central Band of the Royal Air Force released a single of the march (HMV B10877) which reached 18 in the UK record charts on 21 October 1955. The march is now the musical setting for the hymn "God is our strength and refuge", based on Psalm 46. By the time the sheet music for the march was published in 1955, Carlene Mair had added the following lyrics: Fans of Lincoln City sing the song, with their arms outstretched imitating aircraft, after their team scores. It is also regularly played by Scottish football club Rangers F.C. post match. The march was featured in the 1973 Christmas special of ''

The Goodies The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940 – 12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their The Goodies (TV series), ...

'' television series, " The Goodies and the Beanstalk". Progressive rock band Jethro Tull concluded their concerts in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a rock rendition of the theme. It can be heard on their live 1978 album, '' Bursting Out''. In Chile, the orchestral version of this march was used for 40 years as a theme song for the radio news show "El Correo de Minería", in Radio Minería. The march, with a lyric written for the occasion, was used as a theme song for the Norwegian

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Scouts national scout camp in Mandal, Norway in mid 1990. In the early 1990s,

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

featured "The Dam Busters March" in a television advertisement for the Land Rover Defender. In 1990, Carlsberg Group parodied the 1955 film including "The Dam Busters March" in a television advertisement for Carling Black Label beer. In 1994, the March and the idea of the bouncing bomb (this time a rolled-up towel towards a sunbed) were used in another Carlsberg advertisement. A slightly re-arranged orchestral version is used in Danny Boyle's short film ''Happy and Glorious'', made for London's 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The song is featured on the high score screen of the Dragon 32 game '' Tea Time''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dam Busters March, The British military marches Film music compositions 1955 singles Compositions by Eric Coates 1955 songs Rangers F.C. songs Songs about aviators Orchestral marches