Cheer Up, Everything's Gonna be Lousy
Published in Surviving the Rising Sun, 2010, by Liz Lautzenhiser Irvine, pages 52-53

From a floor show in S. T. I. C. - words by Dave Harvey: March 24, 1942

Cheer Up, Everything's Gonna be Lousy
Our lot is getting better and the country's getting wetter,
So I'm no longer sad and pessimistic;
Conditions are chaotic, but I'm very patriotic,
And I want to show you that I am optimistic.
I wouldn't say a word to make you blue (oh no!)
I've come to bring a word of joy to you.

Chorus:
Cheer up, everything's gonna be lousy!
You'll still be eating cracked wheat every day;
You may have built a shanty, but it won't be there for long
'Cause the sides are going higher, so they say;
You'll eat your mush without any milk in the morning
But the prune juice works in the same old-fashioned way;
You may have been the president of Manila's leading store,
But you've still gotta haul the garbage from the third and highest floor.
You may grumble now at beans and peas
But wait till you start on the bark of the trees -
Cheer up, everything's gonna be lousy.

I've plenty to be thankful for, although it's hard to bear,
Things could be a darn sight worse, although I don't know where;
Now don't think I'm complaining, cause it's really not the case;
And if I look disgusted - why, it's just my natural face.
I haven't a pot to cook in, but at least I have a bed --
It may belong to the Red Cross but it's a place to lay my head.
So smile and show your dimples -- they're worth their weight in gold;
You may as well, my friend - before you know it you'll be old.

Chorus:
Cheer up, everything's gonna be lousy!
The rules are getting longer every day.
You can't do this, you can't do that --
You can't even romance in your shack --
I know because I tried it yesterday.
You think the Flit* is decreasing mosquitoes in numbers,
But they're going in mass production any day;
The lines are getting longer, just like the ones in your face -
But wait until you're five years older and still in the same old place.
The rumours may be all that you need,
But you'll soon begin to believe what you read.
So cheer up, everything's gonna be lousy!

* Flit was an insecticide in a spray gun worked by a plunger mechanism, used for mosquitoes.