AN 80-YEAR-OLD song written by a hospital patient for a nurse he loved has been recorded for the first time.
Brighton musician Matt Millership was chosen to record the slow waltz after Scottish council workers discovered the song in the archives of University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride.
Dated July 9 1940, A Girl's Tears was written by Polish patient Boleslaw “Bollo” Ilnicki and dedicated to a nurse called Jean Johnstone.
Its cover depicts a tartan Scotland and the flags of the Allies pushing back a Nazi cloud with bayonets.
Mr Millership recorded the song for the first time for the hospital’s archives and later broadcast a live performance of it on the Facebook page of his band Tensheds.
Yesterday he released a cover on YouTube, exactly 80 years after the song was written.
“It’s like a mini movie,” the 40-year-old pianist said.
“It was translated twice from Polish into English so the lyrics and melodies needed a bit of movement.
“I preferred the old Polish version because it almost puts you in the place and time it was written in.
“You can imagine all that time stuck there having these feelings for the nurse.
“It’s such a touching piece of music that obviously meant so much to him. I’ve been playing it at home quite a bit too.”
With the help of Mr Millership’s recording, NHS Lanarkshire records chief John Duncan has vowed to solve the mystery behind the song.
“Either the nurse is sad about leaving the hospital and Bollo or she is sad Bollo is the one who is leaving ,” he said.
Archivists found a photo of Mr Ilnicki and a song he had written dated 1937.
The Glasgow Polish Society believes he later owned an antique shop in London’s Finchley Road.
He is believed to have married in October 1947 and died in St Mary’s Hospital in 1979, but no descendants have been traced.
To listen to Mr Millership's cover of A Girl's Tears, visit youtu.be/uW9LEI2qti4.
If you can help uncover the mystery behind the song, email samuel.brooke@theargus.co.uk.
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