Carry On

'Carry On'

'Carry On'. Patriotic song popular during World War II. The music was written by Ernest Dainty as part of the orchestral accompaniment to the Canadian silent feature film Carry On Sergeant. Extracted from the score, the tune was given lyrics by Gordon V. Thompson and sung at the film's premiere 10 Nov 1928 in Toronto. 'Carry On' was published in 1928 by Leo Feist, a company for which Thompson was the Canadian manager. The film, released at the beginning of the 'talkies' era, was not a success, and the song did not become popular until it was revived by Thompson at the beginning of World War II. Stanley Maxted provided new verses, and Térèse Rochette wrote a French-language version, 'En avant'. The new version, published by Thompson in 1940, became a kind of theme song for the war effort and was included by the Happy Gang in its programs. Although a test recording was made by the Happy Gang for Compo, 'Carry On' was not recorded commercially.