Live Love Laugh

A cursory Internet search leads me to conclude that most people track the source of the popular saying––Live, Love, Laugh––to the poem "Success," written in 1904 by Bessie Anderson Stanley. But in that poem, the words are not in the same order, but occur, "lived … laughed … loved," past tense. And yes, some of the renditions place the words in the order, Live Laugh Love. Plus, right or wrong, there are various other derivations and attributed sources as well. 

But no one mentions a song.

By now the saying Live Love Laugh goes beyond copyright, but the exact phrase is embedded in a song, recorded by many artists and written by Harry M. Woods.

How did this connection occur to me? Driving by, I saw a red robin splashing in the street's gutter and the next thing, I'm singing aloud:

When the red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin' along

There'll be no more sobbin' when he starts singin' his old sweet song.

Wake up! Wake up, you sleepyhead

Get up, get up, get out of bed

Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red
LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH and be happy …
 

Photo courtesy of Scott Liddell

Aha! Who knew? And now you do, and that makes me happy.