We'll Gather Lilacs, also called We'll Gather Lilacs In The Spring, is a song by Welsh composer Ivor Novello which he wrote for the hit musical romance Perchance to Dream. The stage musical opened at the Hippodrome Theatre in London's West End in 1945 and ran until 1948. The song, sung in the show by Olive Gilbert,"Miss Olive Gilbert", The Times, 20 February 1981, p. 16, col. G was the most popular and enduring to emerge from the production.
It was originally recorded by Muriel Barron & Olive Gilbert (1945) and by Geraldo and his Orchestra, who reached the UK charts with it in 1946. A recording by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocal by Stuart Foster) was a minor hit in the US in 1946. It has since been performed by many artists, including notably Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, Richard Tauber, Bing Crosby (recorded December 18, 1945), Frank Sinatra (for his album Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain (1962)), Marion Grimaldi and Julie Andrews. at Spartacus Educational, accessed 2013Ellacott, Vivyan.Perchance to Dream , London Musicals: 1945–1949, p. 4, Over the Footlights, accessed 15 January 2013
Written as World War II drew to its close, the song describes the yearning of parted couples to be reunited. It evokes the joy they would feel when together once again, and the pleasures of the English countryside in spring with its lilac blossom.Ivor Novello, master of the musical Simon Callow, The Guardian, 3 August 2012
The song was performed at Novello's cremation in 1951 by Olive Gilbert. It was also used in the 1954 film Lilacs in the Spring.
Chorus We'll gather lilacs in the spring again And walk together down an English lane Until our hearts have learnt to sing again When you come home once more.
And in the evening by the firelight's glow You'll hold me close and never let me go Your eyes will tell me all I want to know When you come home once more.
References
External links Original sheet music from 1947