We can all look forward to despair

Noel Coward wrote a song in 1952 which could well be the theme of 2009:

There are bad times just around the corner,
There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
And it's no good whining
About a silver lining
For we know from experience that they won't roll by,
With a scowl and a frown
We'll keep our peckers down
And prepare for depression and doom and dread,
We're going to unpack our troubles from our old kit bag
And wait until we drop down dead.

There are bad times just around the corner
And the outlook's absolutely vile,
There are Home Fires smoking
From Windermere to Woking
And we're not going to tighten our belts and smile, smile, smile,
At the sound of a shot
We'd just as soon as not
Take a hot water bottle and go to bed,
We're going to untense our muscles till they sag sag sag
And wait until we drop down dead.

Note
The fourth meaning of pecker given in the OED is the one intended here:
Brit. colloq. Courage, resolution. Chiefly in to keep one's pecker up: to remain cheerful or steadfast.

There is a fifth meaning categorised by the OED as slang (chiefly U.S.).

Coward was well aware of this and substituted "spirits" when he sang the song in Las Vegas; in fact, he wrote a completely new version.