"I Sustain the Wings" is a 1943 big band and jazz instrumental co-written by Glenn Miller. The instrumental was the theme for the eponymous radio program broadcast on CBS and NBC from 1943 to 1945.
"I Sustain the Wings" is a 1943 big band and jazz instrumental co-written by Glenn Miller. The instrumental was the theme for the eponymous radio program broadcast on CBS and NBC from 1943 to 1945.
"I Sustain the Wings" was composed by Captain Glenn Miller, John Chalmers Chummy MacGregor, Private Sol Meyer, and M/Sgt. Norman Leyden. [1] [2] The song was copyrighted on February 11, 1943. This was the theme music for the radio program that was broadcast weekly on Saturday on NBC from September 18, 1943, to June 10, 1944, by the Army Air Force Band under the direction of Captain Glenn Miller. [3] The radio show was initially on CBS from June to September, 1943. Glenn Miller was the host and conductor on the show, which also featured Ray McKinley, Jerry Gray, Johnny Desmond, and the Crew Chiefs, until June 10, 1944, when Harry Bluestone became the conductor. The Latin Sustineo Alas, "I Sustain the Wings", or "Keep 'Em Flying", was the motto of the U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. The I Sustain the Wings radio series continued until November 17, 1945. [4]
The sheet music for the composition appeared in the 1943 songbook Glenn Miller's Dance Folio published by the Mutual Music Society in New York. The opening lines are: "For the land that I love, I sustain the wings/ In the sky above where they fight to victory/ There's a plane in the sky, and the song it sings/ Is the freedom cry and a pray'r for you and me."
The instrumental appears on the 1996 RCA Victor album The Secret Broadcasts and the 2005 The Missing Chapters Vol. 3: All's Well Mademoiselle collection released by Avid Entertainment. The instrumental also appears uncredited as the segue music between songs on the U.S. Army V-Disc No. 144, VP 415, released in March, 1944.
Tex Beneke performed a version of the instrumental with the Glenn Miller Alumni/Stars for Defense/The Modernaires in 1960 on a Stars for Defense Show. The Airmen of Note band of the U.S. Air Force has recorded the instrumental. [5] The song appeared on the 2011 collection Those Were Our Songs: Hits from World War II performed by the U.S. Air Force Orchestra conducted by Lowell Graham on Altissimo! Recordings. The theme was also performed and recorded by the Army Air Forces Overseas Orchestra conducted by Sgt. Jerry Gray. The Tom Daugherty Orchestra performed the instrumental on tour in 2012.
The instrumental appeared on the CD collection 75th Anniversary Tribute: Glenn Miller and The Army Air Force Band on Sounds of Yesteryear in 2020.
Major Glenn Miller and the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force also made recordings for the BBC and the Office of War Information (OWI) from October 30 to November 20, 1944, at Abbey Road Studios in London that were broadcast over the American Broadcasting Station in Europe to Germany in a program called Music for the Wehrmacht or The Wehrmacht Hour. [6] General James H. Doolittle, Commanding General of the US 8th Army Air Force, told Miller: "Captain Miller, next to a letter from home your organization is the greatest morale-builder in the European Theater of Operations." [7]
The USAAF Technical Training Command insignia during World War II included a badge that featured the motto in Latin "Sustineo Alas", or "I Sustain the Wings". The badge was used from July, 1942 until 1946. The badge was worn on the uniform tunic lapel or on the soft cap. [8]
Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombone player, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forces. His civilian band, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was one of the most popular and successful bands of the 20th century and the big band era. His military group, the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra, was also popular and successful.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American swing dance band that was formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most popular and commercially successful dance orchestra of the swing era and one of the greatest singles charting acts of the 20th century. As of 2024, Ray Anthony is the last surviving member of the orchestra.
Johnny Desmond was an American singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
John Chalmers MacGregor, better known as Chummy MacGregor, a musician and composer, was the pianist in The Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1936 to 1942. He composed the songs "Moon Dreams", "It Must Be Jelly ", "I Sustain the Wings", "Doin' the Jive", "Sold American", "Cutesie Pie" in 1932 with Bing Crosby and Red Standex, and "Slumber Song".
Norman Fowler Leyden was an American conductor, composer, arranger, and clarinetist. He worked in film and television and is perhaps best known as the conductor of the Oregon Symphony Pops orchestra. He co-wrote with Glenn Miller the theme "I Sustain the Wings" in 1943, which was used to introduce the World War II radio series.
"Moonlight Serenade" is an American swing ballad composed by Glenn Miller with subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was an immediate phenomenon when released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement, though it had been adopted and performed as Miller's signature tune as early as 1938, even before it had been given the name "Moonlight Serenade". In 1991, Miller's recording of "Moonlight Serenade" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Wings Up is a short propaganda film produced during World War II, highlighting the role of the United States Army Air Forces Officer Candidate School. The film emphasized that while usually these courses would take up to a year in college, the country was at war now and needed all the qualified officers it could get and fast. The curriculum is briefly outlined in Wings Up as well as the kind of life a student would lead at this training center.
Between 1938 and 1944, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released 266 singles on the monaural ten-inch shellac 78 rpm format. Their studio output comprised a variety of musical styles inside of the Swing genre, including ballads, band chants, dance instrumentals, novelty tracks, songs adapted from motion pictures, and, as the Second World War approached, patriotic music.
The United States Air Force Band is a U.S. military band consisting of 184 active-duty members of the United States Air Force.
"Have Ya Got Any Gum, Chum?" is a big band song written by Murray Kane in 1944. The music and lyrics were registered in the United States Copyright Catalog on February 6, 1945.
Murray Kane was an American Corporal, composer and band manager. As a performer, he was a member of the Crew Chiefs vocal group and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
The Crew Chiefs were a vocal group popular in the 1940s, known for accompanying Tex Beneke, Glenn Miller, and Ray McKinley. Member Artie Malvin co-wrote the song "I'm Headin' For California" with Glenn Miller in 1944.
"I'm Headin' For California" is a 1944 song composed by Glenn Miller and Arthur Malvin and performed for radio broadcast. The song was released in 1946 as a 78 single by the Glenn Miller Orchestra led by Tex Beneke. The song was Glenn's last composition.
"Caribbean Clipper" is a big band and jump song recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in 1942. The song was composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Sammy Gallop. Recorded in 1942, the song was released as a Victor 78 single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in 1943 as the B side to "Blue Rain".
"7-0-5" or "Seven-O-Five" or "705" is an instrumental composed by Glenn Miller in 1943. The instrumental was performed by the Army Air Force Orchestra under the leadership of Capt. Glenn Miller in 1943-1944 and in 1945 under Sgt. Jerry Gray.
"Moon Dreams" is a 1942 jazz and pop song composed by Chummy MacGregor and Johnny Mercer. The song was first recorded by Martha Tilton on Capitol Records.
"It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That)" is a 1942 jazz and pop song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song was released as an RCA 78 single by Glenn Miller in 1944. Woody Herman also released the song as a single and as a V-Disc.
"Here We Go Again" is a swing jazz instrumental recorded by Glenn Miller. The song was released as a 78 single. It was Glenn Miller's last Top 40 hit during his lifetime, peaking at #25.
"The Technical Training Command" is a 1943 big band and jazz song performed and co-written by Glenn Miller. The instrumental version was a theme for I Sustain the Wings, the radio program broadcast on CBS and NBC from 1943 to 1945.