Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer

"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" is a World War II song with lyrics by Harold Adamson and music by Jimmy McHugh, published in 1943 by Robbins Music Corp.[1][2] The lyrics tell of a bomber aircraft and its crew returning from a mission. The mission has been a success ("we really hit our target for tonight"), but the aircraft was damaged in combat and has lost one engine: nevertheless, the crew is unharmed and in good spirits as it limps towards its home airfield, "on a wing and a prayer". The song was recorded by the Song Spinners[3] for Decca Records, reaching number one on the Billboard pop chart on July 2, 1943.[4]

"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer"
Sheet music cover
Song
Published1943
Composer(s)Jimmy McHugh
Lyricist(s)Harold Adamson

"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" was the only song with a war connection to appear in the top twenty best-selling songs of 1943 in the United States (although record sales in this period were heavily affected by the first Petrillo recording ban).[5]

Russian adaptation

The song also became widely known in the Soviet Union in a 1943 adaptation by the popular singer and jazz band leader Leonid Utyosov, titled "Bombers". The translation of the lyrics into Russian is broadly accurate, but the term "prayer" is rendered as "word of honor".[6] This Russian idiom means "only just managing", "just holding on", or "in poor condition".

References
  1. "The Song Spinners – Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer / Johnny Zero". Discogs.
  2. "Comin' in on a wing and a prayer". pritzkermilitary.org.
  3. "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #9". 1972.
  4. "This Day in Music". Billboard. 21 April 2006.
  5. Smith, Kathleen E. R. (2003). God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. The University Press of Kentucky. pp. 124–5. ISBN 0-8131-2256-2.
  6. Anichkin, Alexander (9 May 2012). "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer (Russian songs of Victory)". Tetradki: a Russian Review of Books. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
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