Keep the Home-Fires Burning (Till the Boys Come Home) is a British patriotic First World War song composed in 1914 by Ivor Novello with words by Lena Guilbert Ford.
Keep the Home-Fires Burning (Till the Boys Come Home) is a British patriotic First World War song composed in 1914 by Ivor Novello with words by Lena Guilbert Ford. The song was published first as Till the Boys Come Home in October 1914 by Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew Ltd. in London. A new edition was printed in 1915 with the name Keep the Home-Fires Burning. The song became very popular in the UK during the war, along with It's a Long Way to Tipperary. James F. Harrison recorded "Keep the Home-Fires Burning" in 1915, as did Stanley Kirkby in 1916. Another popular recording was sung by tenor John McCormack in 1917. The lyricist Ford was killed in March 1918 during a German air raid on her home in Warrington Crescent in Maida Vale. There is a misconception that Ivor Novello's mother wrote the lyrics for the song. Lena Ford (an American) was a close friend and often collaborated with of Novello. The opening of the melody bears a resemblance to Gustav Holst's setting of the Christmas Carol In the Bleak Midwinter.
Lyrics include the following lines - they were summoned from the hillside, they were called in from the glen, and the country found them ready, at the stirring call for men, let no tears add to their hardships, as the soldiers pass along, and although your heart is breaking, make it sing this cheery song:
Refrain - Keep the Home Fires Burning, while your hearts are yearning. though your lads are far away, they dream of home…..
Amongst many versions, the song is sung by Joan Fontaine and a group of British soldiers in the film This Above All (1942). It was included in the 1969 musical Oh! What a Lovely War and in the 1970 musical film Darling Lili. In addition, it is featured in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
