"Smile, Smile, Smile": The Story of a Classic WWI Song

Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag

      And smile, smile, smile,

      While you've a lucifer to light your fag,

      Smile, boys, that's the style.

      What's the use of worrying?

      It never was worthwhile

      So pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag

      And smile, smile, smile.

This song is 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. The popularity of the song continued into World War II. It became a staple of various music hall stars and helped to boost the morale of the British public during the war.

The pair were educated at St Asaph Cathedral, where George was a chorister, and Felix is said to have been the organist by age 12. This combination of George's lyrics and Felix's skill on a keyboard had already made them music hall favorites even before their most famous hit.

But "Pack Up Your Troubles" took them to another level of fame, with the song being translated into around a dozen languages—including German. It was a success, which the brothers told reporters at the time, they were at a loss to understand.

"A few months later a wire [telegram message] came up to us at the Grand Theatre, Birmingham — PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES FIRST PRIZE. It gave George and me the best laugh of our lives," recalled Felix in a newspaper article at the time.

"On the following Monday, we put the song into our own show at Southampton in order to "try it on the dog" so to speak. "By the middle of the week we were as amused as we were delighted to hear thousands of troops singing it en route for the docks."

But with success came heartache and bitter creative differences between the brothers. George had been a lifelong pacifist, and as a conscientious objector, he had reservations about his tune's use as a rallying cry from the outset. Felix, on the other hand, immediately signed up, and spent the war as a staff sergeant touring the trenches with their morale-boosting ditty.

Sources: Library of Congress, BBC, YouTube