“Remember the tea-kettle—though up to its neck in hot water, it still sings”

“Remember the tea-kettle—though up to its neck in hot water, it still sings” is cited in print from 1920. The saying was a popular one during the hard times (“hot water”) of the Great Depression.
   
 
Tea Quotss and Sayings
Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!—Author Unknown
 
26 April 1920, Clearfield (PA) Progress, pg. 2, col. 1:
A sage tells us to consider the tea kettle. Although up to the neck in hot water it continues to sing. Good advice.
 
11 July 1929, Ackley (Iowa) World-Journal, pg. 8, col. 3:
Remember the tea-kettle—though up to its neck in hot water it still sings.
 
Google News Archive
19 August 1933, St. Petersburg (FL) Evening Independent,  pg. 2, col. 5:
Clermont Press: Take for instance the tea kettle. Though it is up to its neck in hot water it still sings.
 
10 November 1940, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. A1:
It is said “The spirit of optimism makes the tea-kettle sing, when it is up to its neck in hot water.”
   
Google Books
Second Encyclopedia of Stories, Quotations, and Anecdotes
edited by Jacob Morton Braude
Published by Prentice-Hall
1957
Pg. 18:
It is good to remember that the tea kettle, although up to its neck in hot water, continues to sing.
 
25 November 1957, Dallas (TX) Morning News, part 3, pg. 6:
The good life is like a tea kettle, though up to its neck in hot water, it still sings.
   
Google Books
Wisdom from world religions: pathways toward heaven on earth
By John Templeton
Published by Templeton Foundation Press
2002
Pg. 264:
It is good to remember that although a tea kettle may be up to its neck in hot water, it continues to sing! — American proverb