Yankee Doodle

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Lore & Background

The tune of "Yankee Doodle" is thought to be much older than the lyrics, being well known across western Europe, including England, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Spain. The melody may have originated from an Irish tune "All the way to Galway," in which the second strain is identical to Yankee Doodle. There are rumors that the earliest words came from a Middle Dutch harvest song supposedly dating back as far as 15th-century Holland, containing mostly nonsense words in English and Dutch: "Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther." Farm laborers in Holland were paid "as much buttermilk (Botermelk) as they could drink, and a tenth (tanther) of the grain."

The song was 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. It was written at Fort Crailo around 1755 or 1758 by British Army surgeon Richard Shuckburgh while campaigning in Rensselaer, New York. The British troops sang it to mock American soldiers as simpletons who thought that they were stylish simply by sticking a feather in their hats. It was also embraced by American troops, who added verses to it that mocked the British and hailed George Washington. By 1781, "Yankee Doodle" had become a song of national pride among Americans. According to one account, Shuckburgh wrote the original lyrics after seeing the appearance of Colonial troops under Colonel Thomas Fitch, the son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, "the current version seems to have been written in 1776 by Edward Bangs, a Harvard sophomore who also was a Minuteman." He wrote a ballad with 15 verses which circulated in Boston and surrounding towns in 1775 or 1776. A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on July 25, 1999, recognizing Billerica, Massachusetts, as "America's Yankee Doodle Town."

Reader's Guide

"Yankee Doodle" holds a complex legacy as a song that began as a British mockery of colonial Americans and was later reclaimed as a symbol of American national pride. Its tune, widely known across western Europe, was adapted by British surgeon Richard Shuckburgh around 1755 or 1758 to ridicule the disorganized colonial troops. The term "Yankee doodle dandy" implied unsophisticated misappropriation of upper-class fashion, as though simply sticking a feather in one's cap would transform the wearer into a noble. The British insinuated that the colonists were lower-class men who lacked masculinity. However, American troops embraced the song, adding verses that mocked the British and hailed George Washington, and by 1781 it had become a song of national pride. It was played at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777. The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States until 1931, and today it is the state song of Connecticut. The American state broadcaster Voice of America uses the tune as its interval signal, a choice reportedly made facetiously in 1943 by Howard Fast, who later noted that "that silly little jingle was a power cue, a note of hope everywhere on earth."

Did You Know?

• The tune of "Yankee Doodle" shares its melody with the nursery rhymes "Simple Simon," "Jack and Jill," and "Lucy Locket."
• The term "macaroni" in the lyrics referred to a fashionable man who dressed and spoke in an outlandishly affected and effeminate manner in 1770s Britain.
• The song was played at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777.
• A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on July 25, 1999, recognizing Billerica, Massachusetts, as "America's Yankee Doodle Town."
• The Voice of America uses the tune of "Yankee Doodle" as its interval signal, a choice reportedly made facetiously in 1943 by Howard Fast.