Kent, I’ll Be Home for Christmas

First recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” expressed the desire of U.S. Soldiers in World War II to be back home. The song’s enormous popularity soon took it well beyond that original context, and it is now recognized as a Christmas standard. It speaks to anyone separated from family and friends.

The song was written by lyricist Kim Gannon (1900-1974) and composer Walter Kent (1911-1989). Kent was born Walter Maurice Kaufman. His adopted surname of Kent ties in with another of his hit songs: “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) the White Cliffs of Dover.” That song was written in 1941 as the Royal Air Force was battling the Germans over the skies in southern England, including the county of Kent where Dover is located.

Kent studied at Juilliard and for a while led his own orchestra in New York. He also had a career as an architect. Based on his success with the songs mentioned above, he moved to Hollywood and began writing for films.

John Brancy’s career focuses on opera, but he and pianist Peter Dugan have collaborated on a series of songs surrounding World War I. We featured one of those, “The Lads in Their Hundreds” by George Butterworth, a few weeks ago. They first produced an album commemorating the Christmas truce of 1914 called “Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song” and followed it with “The Journey Home,” celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice and more broadly songs about soldiers finding their way back home.