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Yankee Doodle

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For other uses, see Yankee Doodle (disambiguation).
"Yankee Doodle"
The first verse and refrain of Yankee Doodle, engraved on the footpath in a park.
Song
1. Yankee Doodle Variations
Performed by Carrie Rehkopf
1. Yankee Doodle
Choral version by United States Army Chorus
Problems playing these files? See media help.

"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the early versions of which dates back to the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution (1775–83).[1] It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut.[2] Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 4501.

The melogy is thought to be much older than both the words and the subject, going back to folk songs of numerous peoples of Medieval Europe.[3][4][5]

History

Origin

The tune of Yankee Doodle is thought to be much older than the words, and many peoples knew the melody, including Hungary, Spain, France, England and Holland (the Netherlands).[3] The earliest words of "Yankee Doodle" came from a Middle Dutch harvest song (which is thought to have followed the same tune), dating back as far as possibly 15th century Holland.[6][7] It contained mostly nonsensical and out-of-place (both in English and Dutch) words: "Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther." However, at the time the farm laborers in Holland received as their wages "as much buttermilk (Botermilk) as they could drink, and a tenth (tanther) of the grain".[5]

The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early seventeenth century,[8] and is thought to be derived from the Low German (a language close to Dutch) dudel, meaning “playing music badly” or Dödel, meaning "fool" or "simpleton". The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became contemporary slang for foppishness.[9] Dandies were men who placed particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies. Historically, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain, a dandy, who was self-made, often strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle despite coming from a middle-class background.

They were members of the Macaroni Club[10] in London at the height of the fashion for dandyism, so called because they wore striped silks upon their return from the Grand Tour - and a feather in their hats. They also wore two fob watches: "one to tell what time it was and the other to tell what time it was not" ran their joking explanation. Their love of horse racing at Cheltenham and Bibury (both in England) can still be recognised today in the names of the 18th Century Macaroni Farm and Macaroni Woods near Eastleach, Gloucestershire, UK. The verse implies that Yankees were so unsophisticated that they thought simply sticking a feather in a cap would make them the height of fashion.[11] Peter McNeil, professor of fashion studies, claims the British were insinuating the colonists were womanish and not very masculine.[12]

Early versions

Traditions place its origin in a pre-Revolutionary War song originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial "Yankees" with whom they served in the French and Indian War. The British troops sang it to make fun of the Yankee simpleton who thought he was stylish if he simply stuck a feather in his cap.[1] It was also popular among the rebels as a song of defiance.[1] As per the American Library of the Congress, the rebels added additional verses to the song, mocking the British troops and hailing the Commander of the Continental army, George Washington. By 1881, Yankee doodle had turned from being an insult to a being a song of national pride.[13]

It is believed[weasel words] that the tune comes from the nursery rhyme Lucy Locket. One version of the Yankee Doodle lyrics is generally attributed to Dr. Richard Shuckburgh,[14] a British Army surgeon. According to one story, Dr. Shuckburgh wrote the song after seeing the appearance of Colonial troops under Colonel Thomas Fitch, V, the son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch.[15]

A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on July 25, 1999 (as referenced as H. CON. RES. 143) recognizing Billerica, Massachusetts as "America's Yankee Doodle Town". After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, a Boston newspaper reported:

"Upon their return to Boston [pursued by the Minutemen], one [Briton] asked his brother officer how he liked the tune now, — 'Dang them', returned he, 'they made us dance it till we were tired' — since which Yankee Doodle sounds less sweet to their ears."

The earliest known version of the lyrics comes from 1755 or 1758, as the date of origin is disputed:[16]

Brother Ephraim sold his Cow
And bought him a Commission;
And then he went to Canada
To fight for the Nation;
But when Ephraim he came home
He proved an arrant Coward,
He wouldn't fight the Frenchmen there
For fear of being devoured.

(Note that the sheet music which accompanies these lyrics reads, "The Words to be Sung through the Nose, & in the West Country drawl & dialect.")

The Ephraim referred to here was Ephraim Williams, a popularly known colonel in the Massachusetts militia who was killed in the Battle of Lake George. He left his land and property to the founding of a school in Western Massachusetts, now known as Williams College.

The tune also appeared in 1762, in one of America's first comic operas, The Disappointment, with bawdy lyrics about the search for Blackbeard's buried treasure by a team from Philadelphia.[17]

It has been reported[weasel words] that the British often marched to a version believed to be about a man named Thomas Ditson, of Billerica, Massachusetts. Ditson was tarred and feathered for attempting to buy a musket in Boston in March 1775, although he later fought at Concord:

Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy a firelock,
We will tar and feather him,
And so we will John Hancock.

For this reason, the town of Billerica is the "home" of Yankee Doodle,[18][19] and claims that at this point the Americans embraced the song and made it their own, turning it back on those who had used it to mock them.[citation needed]

The British responded with another set of lyrics following the Battle of Bunker Hill:

The seventeen of June, at Break of Day,
The Rebels they supriz'd us,
With their strong Works, which they'd thrown up,
To burn the Town and drive us.

There is another version attributed to Edward Bangs, a student at Harvard College, who in 1775 or 1776, wrote a ballad with fifteen verses circulated in Boston and surrounding towns.[20] Yankee Doodle was also played at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777.[21]

On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts ratified the Constitution by a vote of 186 to 168. To the ringing of bells and the booming of cannons, the delegates trooped out of Brattle Street Church.[citation needed] Before many days had passed, the citizens sang their convention song to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." Here are the lyrics to their song...

The vention did in Boston meet,
The State House could not hold 'em
So then they went to Fed'ral Street,
And there the truth was told 'em...
And ev'ry morning went to prayer,
And then began disputing,
Till oppositions silenced were,
By arguments refuting.
Now politicians of all kinds,
Who are not yet decided,
May see how Yankees speak their minds,
And yet are not divided.
So here I end my Fed'ral song,
Composed of sixteen verses;
May agriculture flourish long
And commerce fill our purses!

Full version

The Spirit of '76 (aka Yankee Doodle)
ArtistArchibald MacNeal Willard
Yearcirca 1875
Typeoil
Dimensions61 cm × 45 cm (24 in × 18 in)
LocationUnited States Department of State

The full version of the song, as it is known today, goes:[22]

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.
[Chorus]
Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.
Fath'r and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.
[Chorus]
And there we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it could be saved.
[Chorus]
The 'lasses they eat it every day,
Would keep a house a winter;
They have so much, that I'll be bound,
They eat it when they've mind ter.
[Chorus]
And there I see a swamping gun
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.
[Chorus]
And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder,
and makes a noise like father's gun,
Only a nation louder.
[Chorus]
I went as nigh to one myself
As 'Siah's inderpinning;
And father went as nigh again,
I thought the deuce was in him.
[Chorus]
Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I shrinked it off
And hung by father's pocket.
[Chorus]
And Cap'n Davis had a gun,
He kind of clapt his hand on't
And stuck a crooked stabbing iron
Upon the little end on't
[Chorus]
And there I see a pumpkin shell
As big as mother's bason,
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.
[Chorus]
I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked on it with little clubs
And called the folks together.
[Chorus]
And there was Cap'n Washington,
And gentle folks about him;
They say he's grown so 'tarnal proud
He will not ride without em'.
[Chorus]
He got him on his meeting clothes,
Upon a slapping stallion;
He sat the world along in rows,
In hundreds and in millions.
[Chorus]
The flaming ribbons in his hat,
They looked so tearing fine, ah,
I wanted dreadfully to get
To give to my Jemima.
[Chorus]
I see another snarl of men
A digging graves they told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep,
They 'tended they should hold me.
[Chorus]
It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother's chamber.
[Chorus]
  • President John F. Kennedy, from Massachusetts, bought a pony for his daughter Caroline while he was in the White House. The family named it "Macaroni", after the song Yankee Doodle, although the name refers to the feathered cap rather than the pony.

Music

Radio

Sports

Television

  • The PBS Kids show Barney and Friends adapts "Yankee Doodle" as its theme song.
  • The children's cartoon series Roger Ramjet (1965) adapts "Yankee Doodle" as its theme song: "Roger Ramjet and his Eagles/Fighting for our freedom/Fly through in and outer space/Not to join 'em, but to beat 'em/Roger Ramjet, he's our man/Hero of our nation/For his adventures, just be sure/and stay tuned to this station". Ramjet's four child sidekicks, the "American Eagle Squadron", are named Yank, Doodle, Dan, and Dee.
  • The title of the song has been parodied in the Looney Tunes Cartoons Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943) and Yankee Doodle Bugs (1954).
  • The title of the song is parodied in a Tom and Jerry cartoon "Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943).
  • In a similar example to the John F. Kennedy one above, an episode of Julius Jr. featured Clancy's pony, named Macaroni. This could be a reference to "Yankee Doodle".
  • The song was used as title card music to the episode "Turner Back Time" of The Fairly OddParents.
  • A Sesame Street parody of the song was done by music writer Don Music, who centered the song around cooking macaroni. In the song, Yankee Doodle stayed at home and cooked macaroni in a pot for his pony.
  • Plastic Man sings the song in Batman: The Brave and the Bold
  • In "The Play's The Thing" the 8th episode of 6th season of Full House the song is staged in a school presentation. Michelle Tanner wanted to play Yankee Doodle, but her colleagues sang it better, so she got the part of the Statue of Liberty.
  • In Turn: Washington's Spies season 3 episode 8 "Mended" the song is sung in parody by English Tories using alternate lyrics.

Toys and games

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Mooney, Mark (14 July 2014). "'Yankee Doodle Dandy' Explained and Other Revolutionary Facts". ABC News. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  2. ^ STATE OF CONNECTICUT, Sites º Seals º Symbols; Connecticut State Register & Manual; retrieved on May 23, 2008
  3. ^ a b Johnson, Helen Kendrick. "The Meaning of Song" in The North American Review vol.138, no.330 (1884): p.491. Retrieved 17 June 2016 from www.jstor.org/stable/25118383
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference his was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Banks, Louis Albert (1898). Immortal Songs of Camp and Field: The Story of Their Inspiration, Together with Striking Anecdotes Connected with Their History. Burrows Brothers Company. p. 44.
  6. ^ Yankee Doodle Dandy, The New York Times
  7. ^ Elson, Louis Charles (1912). University Musical Encyclopedia: A history of music. Vol. 2. p. 82.
  8. ^ "doodle", n, Oxford English Dictionary; accessed April 29, 2009.
  9. ^ J. Woodforde, The Strange Story of False Hair (London: Taylor & Francis, 1971), p. 40.
  10. ^ Grose, Francis; Egan, Pierce (1823). Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: Revised and Corrected with the Addition of Numerous Slang Phrases Collected from Tried Authorities. London.
  11. ^ R. Ross, Clothing: a global history: or, The Imperialists' new clothes (Polity, 2008), p. 51.
  12. ^ Peter McNeil, That Doubtful Gender: Macaroni Dress and Male Sexualities (Fashion Theory, 1998), pp. 411-48.
  13. ^ "Historical Period: The American Revolution, 1763-1783 - Lyrical legacy - Yankee doodle song". http://www.loc.gov/teachers/lyrical/songs/yankee_doodle.html. Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 May 2016. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  14. ^ A. Lomax, John; Lomax, Alan. American ballads and f-28276-3. p. 521.
  15. ^ Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore. Report on The Star-spangled Banner, Hail Columbia, America, Yankee Doodle. New York, Dover Publications [1972]. ISBN 0-486-22237-3.
  16. ^ Carola, Chris (July 5, 2008). "Wish 'Yankee Doodle' a happy 250th birthday. Maybe". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  17. ^ Bobrick, 148
  18. ^ The Billerica Colonial Minute Men; The Thomas Ditson story; retrieved January 31, 2013.
  19. ^ Town History and Genealogy; retrieved October 20, 2008.
  20. ^ The Boston Yankee Doodle Ballad; retrieved on July 3, 2010
  21. ^ Luzader, John F. (2008). Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution. New York: Savas Beatie. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-932714-44-9.
  22. ^ Gen. George P. Morris - "Original Yankee Words", The Patriotic Anthology, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. publishers, 1941. Introduction by Carl Van Doren. Literary Guild of America, Inc., New York, NY.
  23. ^ Berg, Jerome S. (1999). On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio. McFarland. p. 104. ISBN 0-7864-0506-6.
  24. ^ "ESPN Classic — McEnroe was McNasty on and off the court". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2009-09-10.

Further reading

  • Bobrick, Benson (1997). Angel in the Whirlwind. Simon & Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-684-81060-3.
Wikisource has the text of the 1879 American Cyclopædia article Yankee Doodle.
Writings
Historical Audio
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