One of the best-loved songs of World War I was “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile.” Most people are familiar with its refrain:
What’s the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile;
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag and smile, smile, smile.
The melody was composed by Felix Powell and the words were written by his brother George (who used the pseudonym George Asaf). The song was entered into a World War I competition for “best morale-building song”. It won first prize and was noted as “perhaps the most optimistic song ever written”.
Ironically, George was a pacifist and became a conscientious objector when Britain imposed a draft in 1916. Felix was an enthusiastic staff sergeant in the army but he apparently had trouble the optimism of their creation – in 1942 he put on his uniform and shot himself in the heart using a rifle. His words encouraged the world to “smile, smile, smile.” But his words had no power to satisfy the deepest longings of his own heart.
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Material adapted from Wikipedia.org