Przyznam, że to dla mnie odkrycie, gdyby nie Antoni, pozostawałbym w nieświadomości!
Sprawdziłem w sieci, rzeczywiście!
Piosenka Ever Homeward z filmu z 1947, The Miracle of the Bells, powtórzona w specjalnym koncercie Let Poland Be Poland! z grudnia 1981 roku, wspierającym Polskę będącą w okowach stanu wojennego.
In early 1982, with Martial Law in full swing in Poland, American TV aired a song in which Frank Sinatra, for probably the only time in his career, sang in Polish.
The story of the song aired on that January evening goes back to 1947, when Sinatra starred in the movie The Miracle of the Bells. Set in America, the movie tells the story of Polish-born actress Olga Treskovna (played by Alida Valli), who pursues an acting career but dies of TB during the shooting of her first film, Joan of Arc. In the movie Frank Sinatra played the role of a pastor, Paul, who tries to grant Olga's last wish, which is to be buried in her hometown, Coaltown (coal dust inhalation is likely the cause of Olga contracting the fatal disease).In the movie Sinatra and Valli sing a song entitled Ever Homeward together. Sinatra sings the English version of the lyrics, while Valli does the Polish part. The piece is an old Polish folk song originally composed by Kazimierz Lubomirski in 1850 (the Polish original is called O Gwiazdeczko Coś Błyszczała[Little Star, You Shone...]).
That same year (1947), Sinatra recorded the song for Columbia Records singing two stanzas in Polish, along other stanzas in English. The song was then released as a single in 1948. Here's Sinatra singing in Polish at 02:00:
The song made an unexpected comeback some 34 years later, aired on national TV as part of the special show Let Poland Be Poland! The show, broadcast on 31st January to many audiences around the world, was meant to be a gesture of support for the Solidarity movement and for Polish people after the imposition of Martial Law in December 1981.
The programme featured artists and politicians sharing words of support, among them Max von Sydow, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, John Fraser, Glenda Jackson, Charlton Heston, Orson Welles and Kirk Douglas (who reminisced about Polish girls he met back on his trips to Poland decades erlier). There were also Polish dissidents and artists like Czesław Miłosz or Adam Makowicz. Among them was also Sinatra.
