Yankee Dewey

DESCRIPTION: "Yankee Dewey sailed away On an armored cruiser, He took along for company Of guns and men a cruiser." He attacks the Philippines so "That not a single ship was left Of all that Spanish fleet, sir."
AUTHOR: see NOTES
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Spanish-American War Songs)
KEYWORDS: derivative battle navy
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1895 - Cubans rebel against Spain
Feb 15, 1898 - Explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana harbor
May 1, 1898 - Battle of Manila Bay. Dewey's fleet destroys the entire Spanish fleet in the Philippines
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 57, "The Spanish War" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Sidney A. Witherbee, editor, _Spanish-American War Songs: A Complete Collection of Newspaper Verse During the Recent War with Spain_ Sidney A. Witherbee (Detroit), 1898 (available on Google Books), pp. 555-556, "Dewey's Victory at Manila" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yankee Doodle" (tune) and references there
cf. "Dewey Song (Dewy Was the Grass)" (mentions of Admiral Dewey)
cf. "Manila Bay" (mentions of Admiral Dewey)
NOTES [217 words]: The authorship of this is an interesting conundrum. The first mention of it that I found (which, unfortunately, I failed to document) listed it as by O. H. Cole. The version in Spanish-American War Songs credits its version to Ina Libby. But the book has several songs that mention "Yankee Dewey" and are clearly to the tune of "Yankee Doodle":
-- "Yankee Dewey," p. 84 ("Yankee Dewey crossed the sea With shot and shell and powder"), credited to M. P. Bishop
-- "Yankee Dewey Dandy," p. 424 ("Oh, say, what did our Dewey do? Go tell it to the King, sir"), credited to B. F. Hayes
-- "Dewey's Victory at Manila," p. 555 ("Yankee Dewey went to sea, Sailing in a cruiser"), credited to Ina Libby
-- "Yankee Dewey," p. 576 ("Father and I went out to sea Along with Admiral Dewey"), credited to E. J. Lalor
-- "Yankee Dewey," p, p. 592 ("Yankee Dewey went to sea, Sailing on a cruiser"), credited to William Miller
(There are a few others in songs that mention "Yankee Dewey" but only in passing, and are not "Yankee Doddle" knockoffs.)
The versions by Libby and Miller don't just share the same first two lines; they are clearly the same song. And it appears a few words from some of the others may have drifted in also. Possibly Libby wrote it; possibly Miller wrote it; possibly they both stole it. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LaGo057

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