Cheer Up, Mother

"Cheer Up, Mother"
"Cheer Up, Mother" cover
Song
Released	1918
Label	Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.
Composer	Mary Earl
Lyricist	Mary Earl

"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]

References

1. 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. pp. 162, 303. ISBN 0-89950-952-5.
2. Parker, Bernard S. (2007). World War I Sheet Music 1. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7864-2798-7.
3. "Cheer up, mother". University of South Carolina Digital Collections. University of South Carolina. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
4. "JScholarship". JScholarship. JScholarship. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
5. "Cheer up, mother". Library of Congress. Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
6. "Cheer up, mother". OCLC WorldCat. OCLC WorldCat. Retrieved 26 January 2016.