WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING There's a tear in your eye and I'm wondering why For it never should be there at all With such power in your smile, sure a stone you'd beguile So there's never a teardrop should fall When your sweet lilting laughter's like some fairy song And your eyes twinkle bright as can be You should laugh all the while, and all other times smile And now smile a smile for me When Irish eyes are smiling, sure it's like a morning Spring In the lilt of Irish laughter, you can hear the angels sing When Irish hearts are happy, all the world seems bright and gay And when Irish eyes are smiling, sure they steal your heart away For your smile is a part of the love in your heart And it makes even sunshine more bright Like the linnet's sweet song, crooning all the day long Comes your laughter so tender and light For the spring-time of life is the sweetest of all There is ne'er a real care or regret And while spring-time is ours, throughout all of youth's hours Let us smile each chance we get When Irish eyes are smiling, sure it's like a morning Spring In the lilt of Irish laughter, you can hear the angels sing When Irish hearts are happy, all the world seems bright and gay And when Irish eyes are smiling, sure they steal your heart away. -- Ernest Ball, Chauncey Olcott, Geo. Graff Jr. Chauncey Olcott: Chancellor John Olcott (1860-1932) began his performing career in minstrel shows in the 1880s. When he traveled to England in 1891, he acted in a light Irish opera. Returning to America, Olcott became a star of Irish comedies and dramas, often writing plays and songs himself. He played a major role in popularizing the Tin Pan Alley vision of Ireland as a quaint land of green fields, devout Catholics, jolly pubs, and heroic nationalism. His best-remembered song is "My Wild Irish Rose." Although Olcott enjoyed 20 years of success, his popularity declined after WWI. His business sense, however, had made him a small fortune over the years. In declining health, Olcott left for Monte Carlo, where he died of anemia in 1932