 |  |  | | American songs continued to reflect a light-hearted attitude, as did those of the French. Some of their own war songs were among the most spirited of any of the Allies. The best loved was Quand Madelon, which became a marching song for the Americans as well as the French. | The British approached the war more soberly, and their music reflected their bitter experiences. But the unflagging optimism of the British, who rallied to the stirring melodies of the war, produced two of the best marching songs of the war: It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag. |  |  | | | The British also created the great sentimental songs of the war, which both they and the Americans sang in the barracks and the field. The two best known are Keep the Home Fires Burning and There’s a Long, Long Trail, the latter written by two Yale undergraduates who could not find a willing American publisher. One student went to Oxford for post-graduate work, and his English fellow students took it with them when they enlisted in the army. It was an instant hit. | |  |  | | | Even before the Americans were drawn into combat, we had begun to write songs about girls and the war. Al Jolson, a rising young star of the musical stage, promoted a song in late 1914 called Sister Susie’s Sewing Shirts for Soldiers. After the war started, the sweetheart of the whole United States Army was K-K-K-Katy. | |
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