Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag
| "Pack Up Your Troubles" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Published | 1915 |
| Genre | March |
| Composer | Felix Powell |
| Lyricist | George Henry Powell |
"Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile" is the full name of a World War I marching song, published in 1915 in London. It was written by Welsh songwriter George Henry Powell under the pseudonym of "George Asaf", and set to music by his brother Felix Powell.[1][2] The song is best remembered for its chorus.[3]
It was featured in the American show Her Soldier Boy, which opened in December 1916.[4]
Performers associated with this song include the Victor Military Band, James F. Harrison, Adele Rowland, Murray Johnson, Reinald Werrenrath, and the Knickerbocker Quartet.[5]
A later play presented by the National Theatre recounts how these music hall stars rescued the song from their rejects pile and re-scored it to win a wartime competition for a marching song.[6] It became very popular, boosting British morale despite the horrors of that war. It was one of a large number of music hall songs aimed at maintaining morale, recruiting for the forces, or defending Britain's war aims. Another of these songs, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", was so similar in musical structure that the two were sometimes sung side by side.[7]
Other performances
Florrie Forde performed it throughout the United Kingdom in 1916.[8]
Other performers associated with this song include Helen Clark, Reinald Werrenrath, and Oscar Seagle.[9]
Cilla Black performed the song as a comedy/singing sketch on her variety television series Surprise Surprise.
The original version was interpolated in and inspired the song "Pack Up" by English musician Eliza Doolittle.
In film
The song appears in several films, including Varsity Show with Dick Powell, Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel & Hardy, whose title actually came from the song, High Pressure (1932), and The Shopworn Angel (1938).[9]
Literary references
- The title of Wilfred Owen's anti-war poem "Smile, Smile, Smile" (September 1918) was derived from the song.[10]
References
- ^ "Indiana University Sheet Music". Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag and smile, smile, smile. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
- ^ Pegler, Martin, Soldiers' Songs and Slang of the Great War. Osprey Publishing, 2014, ISBN 9781427804150, pages 263–264.
- ^ Scott K. Williams (September 1, 2001). "Old Kit Bag". Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
- ^ Paas, John Roger (2014). America Sings of War: American Sheet Music from World War I. Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 38, ISBN 9783447102780.
- ^ Paas, John Roger (2014). America Sings of War: American Sheet Music from World War I. Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 38. ISBN 9783447102780.
- ^ "Productions : Pack Up Your Troubles". National Theatre. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
- ^ Malone, Gareth. "The Importance of WWI Songs". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Tyler, Don (2016). Music of the First World War. ABC-CLIO. p. 18. ISBN 9781440839962.
- ^ a b Tyler, Don (2016). Music of the First World War. ABC-CLIO. p. 19. ISBN 9781440839962.
- ^ Kendall, Tim (2013). Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology. Oxford University Press. p. xlix. ISBN 9780191642050.