Oscar Seagle (baritone) and the Columbia Stellar Quartette sing Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag (And Smile, Smile, Smile) on Columbia A6028, recorded on January 25, 1918.<br>This is by British songwriters (George Henry Powell wrote the words under the pseudonym George Asaf--music is by his brother Felix Powell) about British soldiers, the song first popular in England when published in 1915 and performed on London stages.<br>Private Perks is a funny little <br>codger with a smile--a funny smile.<br>Five feet none, hes an artful little <br>dodger with a smile--a funny smile.<br>Flush or broke, hell have his little <br>joke. He cant be suppressd.<br>All the other fellows have to grin <br>when he gets this off his chest--hi!<br>Pack up your troubles in your old <br>kit-bag and smile, smile, smile. <br>While youve a lucifer to light your <br>fag, smile, boys--thats the style. <br>Whats the use of worrying? It <br>never was worthwhile, so pack up <br>your troubles in your old kit-bag <br>and smile, smile, smile.<br>Private Perks went a-marching into <br>Flanders with his smile, his funny <br>smile. He was loved by the privates <br>and commanders for his smile--his <br>funny smile! When a throng of <br>Germans came along with a mighty <br>swing, Perks yelld out, This little <br>bunch is mine! Keep your heads <br>down, boys, and sing--hi!<br>Private Perks--he came back from Bosche-shooting<br>With his smile, his funny smile.<br>Round his home he then set about recruiting<br>With his smile, his sunny smile.<br>He told all his pals, the short and tall,<br>What a time hed had!<br>And as each enlisted like a man,<br>Private Perks said Now my lad, Hi!<br>Is this melody from an old German soldiers song titled Weit ist der Weg zurueck ins Heimatland?<br>Oscar Seagle was an outstanding baritone whose recording career peaked in the World War I years. In 1915 he founded the thriving Seagle Music Colony, the oldest summer singer training program in the country.<br>Seagle began the Colony by opening a studio in Hague, on Lake George, in 1915. He then moved to Schroon Lake and taught at the Brown Swan Club, which is now the Word of Life Inn. <br>In 1922, Oscar bought the property where the Colony currently stands. The Colony was nicknamed Olowan, an Indian name meaning Hill of Song. <br>Oscars son John was among Oscars pupils.
