Cheer Up, Mother Explained

"Cheer Up, Mother" is a World War I era song released in 1918. Mary Earl composed the music and wrote the lyrics.^[1] Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. of New York, New York published the song. Artist Albert Wilfred Barbelle designed the sheet music cover. It features a mother saying good-bye to her soldier son.^[2] It was written for both voice and piano.^{[3] [4] [5]}

In the song, a son is comforting his mother before he heads off to war. The chorus is as follows:

"Cheer up, mother, smile and don't be sighing

Dry the teardrop in your eye;

We'll come back with colors flying

After the war clouds roll by,

Homeward bound then

We'll come sailing, mother.

We will win out, never fear;

Dad came home from fields of glory,

Maybe I'll repeat his story,

So cheer up, mother dear."

The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Vogel . Frederick G. . 1995 . World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics . Jefferson . McFarland & Company, Inc. . 162, 303 . 0-89950-952-5.
2. Book: Parker . Bernard S. . 2007 . 1 . World War I Sheet Music . Jefferson . McFarland & Company, Inc. . 74 . 978-0-7864-2798-7.
3. Web site: Cheer up, mother . . University of South Carolina Digital Collections . University of South Carolina . 26 January 2016.
4. Web site: JScholarship . . JScholarship . 26 January 2016.
5. Web site: Cheer up, mother . . Library of Congress . 26 January 2016.
6. Book: Cheer up, mother . . OCLC WorldCat . 24838498 . 26 January 2016.