''The Dam Busters March'' is the theme to 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 Eric Francis Harrison Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading viola, violist. Coates was born into a musical family, but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, ...

, has achieved the distinction of becoming synonymous with both the film and the real

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or 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 sp ...

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

flypast A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by an aircraft or group of aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used. Flypasts are often tied in wi ...

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''. It just so happened 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. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

that emulated the musical forms of Edward Elgar, such as in the ''

Pomp and Circumstance Marches The ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'' (full title ''Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches''), Op. 39, are a series of five (or six) marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar. The first four were published between 1901 and 190 ...

''. It was only a few days after completing the composition that 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 Leighton Lucas (5 January 1903 – 1 November 1982) was an English composer and conductor. Born into a musical family (his father, Clarence Lucas, was also a noted composer and his mother Clara Asher-Lucas a concert pianist), he began his career ...

Other usage

The Central Band of the Royal Air Force released a single of the march (HMV B10877) which reached 18 in the U.K. 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 Psalm 46 is the 46th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin V ...

. By the time the sheet music for the march was published in 1955, Carlene Mair had added the following lyrics: Fans of Lincoln City are known to sing the song with arms outstretched imitating aircraft after their team scores. It is also regularly played by Scottish football club

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

post match. The march is 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 eponymous television com ...

'' television series, " The Goodies and the Beanstalk". Progressive rock band Jethro Tull were known to conclude 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 ''Bursting Out'' is a 1978 live double album by the rock band Jethro Tull. The concert was recorded at the Festhalle in Bern, Switzerland, on 28 May 1978 during the band's European Heavy Horses Tour in May/June of that year. A spelling err ...

''. 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 organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

Scouts national scout camp in

Mandal, Norway Mandal is a town in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. Mandal is the fourth largest town in Agder as well as the administrative centre of Lindesnes municipality. It is located at the mouth of the river Mandalselva at the southern e ...

in mid 1990. In the early 1990s,

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

featured "The Dam Busters March" in a television advertisement for the

Land Rover Defender The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pick-up truck, pickup ...

. In 1990,

Carlsberg Group Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. T ...

parodied the 1955 film including "The Dam Busters March" in a television advertisement for Carlsberg 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 opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London, during which the Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proce ...

. The song is featured on the

high score In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points (except in game shows, where scores often are instead measured in units of currency), and events in th ...

screen of the

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mo ...

game ''

Tea Time Tea (in reference to food, rather than the drink) has long been used as an umbrella term for several different meals. English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of var ...

''.

References

External links

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