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                                        That's my favorite joke. 
A Man Without a Country (2005)
                                    
If I should die, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "If I should die to-night, / My friends would look upon my quiet face / Before they laid it in its resting-place, / And deem that death had left it almost fair", Belle E. Smith.
“If I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, "Kurt is up in heaven now."”
                                        
                                        That's my favorite joke. 
A Man Without a Country (2005)
                                    
Source: A Fire in the Sun (1989), Chapter 3 (p. 30).
                                        
                                        both quotes in a letter to William M. Milliken, New York November 1, 1930; as quoted in Voicing our visions, – Writings by women artists; ed. Mara R. Witzling, Universe New York, 1991, p. 227 
1930s
                                    
An optimist seeks peace (Ein Optimist sucht den Frieden) http://www.schwaebische.de/home_artikel,-Ein-Optimist-sucht-den-Frieden-_arid,2456681.html, Schwäbische Zeitung, 2008-07-10
                                        
                                        It Might as Well Rain Until September (1962), co-written with Gerry Goffin, recorded by King and Bobby Vee 
Song lyrics, Singles
                                    
 
                            
                        
                        
                         
                            
                        
                        
                        