Relaxing

This song probably reached Canadian stores during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when the defence of the British Isles from German bombing attacks fell to fighter pilots from Britain and the Empire.

The fortunes of Britain's war effort were low when this song was published in 1941, and they would get lower the following year - no matter how proud the world was of England.

"Dot dot dot dash" became one of the most recognizable identifiers of the Allied war effort, and could be found on countless kinds of consumer goods - including sheet music.

Albert Drummond was a nurse in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when he joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps in December 1916. He eventually served overseas with the 15th Canadian Field Ambulance. Judging by the titles of the poems, this volume was probably published in 1917.

In its sentiment and language, this sheet music could easily have come from the First World War - only the faint image of the tank on the cover places it in the Second World War.

This song version of the famous military march "Colonel Bogey" was recorded by the Happy Gang, one of the most popular entertainment acts in Second World War Canada.

Although it was probably written in 1939, this song, with its professed joy at the coming of war, sounds more like 1914.

By May 1916, Regina's Wascana Lodge had already seen twenty-six of its members enlist for active service.

These souvenirs cards, with original art by Lewis E. Smith, were produced in 1919 to mark significant events of the First World War, using the poems they inspired.

This songbook, donated to soldiers by a Hamilton, Ontario, businessman, including selections ranging from "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" to "Stop Yer Tickling, Jock."