So yesterday morning I was once again immersed, as is my wont, in the great comforting warm bath that is The New York Times Arts section, when the following interesting and alarming pop culture news caught my eye:

So much for The Beatles: in the week when long-awaited remastered editions of their catalog were finally released, the No. 1 position on the British album sales chart was claimed by Vera Lynn, the British singer of World War II ballads, Agence France-Presse reported. Last month Ms. Lynn, 92, known for her performances of songs like “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) the White Cliffs of Dover” and “We’ll Meet Again,” became the oldest living artist on the British Top 20 chart when her collection We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn, reached the No. 20 position. That album was rereleased by Decca Records to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Britain’s declaration of war on Germany.

There are numerous ironies attendant to the above, of course, but not the least of them is that to non-Brits, which is to say most of the sentient mammals on the planet, "We'll Meet Again" is not a piece of warm and fuzzy nostalgia, but rather the song heard to ironic and chilling effect on the soundtrack during the final end-of-the-world-by-nuclear-war scene in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece Dr. Strangelove.

And speaking of great 60s pop bands, we should also note that "We'll Meet Again" shows up, in a tongue and cheek but oddly moving version, on the classic debut album by The Byrds. When they performed it live back in the day never failed to dedicate it to Kubrick and Slim Pickens.