"Imagine Me in the Maginot Line" (sometimes "Imagine Me on the Maginot Line") is a 1939 comedy song written by

Harry Gifford Henry "Harry" Gifford (1884 – 1952) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. He played at representative level for Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain, England national ...

and Fred E. Cliffe for the

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

. Formby recorded it on 17 December for

Regal Zonophone Records Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal and Zonophone labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies – the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramopho ...

. The title refers to the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

, a large defensive fortification in northern France, constructed to withstand assault from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Formby voices a member of the British Expeditionary Force stationed to defend France during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Blake p.153 The song was a hit, and Formby performed it when entertaining British troops. Popular during the

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germ ...

of 1939 to 1940, the song rapidly dated when the Germans attacked and successfully conquered France, with the remains of the BEF being evacuated from Dunkirk.

References

Bibliography

* Blake, Eric Charles. ''Wars, Dictators and the Gramophone, 1898-1945''. William Sessions, 2004. * Buckton, Henry. ''Retreat: Dunkirk and the Evacuation of Western Europe''. Amberley Publishing, 2017. * Morley, Nathan. ''Disney's British Gentleman: The Life and Career of David Tomlinson''. The History Press, 2021. British songs 1939 songs George Formby songs Songs written by Harry Gifford (songwriter) Songs written by Fred E. Cliffe Songs of World War II {{1930s-song-stub