Yankee Doodle

DESCRIPTION: Concerning the exploits of a New England backwoodsman who joins Washington's colonial army. He sees many wonders his mind cannot comprehend. He is steadily teased: "Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle dandy...."
AUTHOR: sometimes credited to Dr. Richard Shuckburgh
EARLIEST DATE: 1794
KEYWORDS: war rebellion humorous America
FOUND IN: US(All)
REFERENCES (29 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 521-525, "Yankee Doodle" (4 texts, 1 tune, although 1 text is the Confederate version)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 115-118, "Virginia Reel" [medley of "The Irish Washerwoman," "The White Cockade," and "Yankee Doodle"] (1 tune for each of the three melodies, plus dance instructions)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 61, "(The Famer and his Son's return from a visit to the CAMP" (1 broadside text, thought to be the earliest print of the "common" version)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 77-78, "The Yankees return from Camp" (1 text plus a broadside print)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 92-93, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune, the first verse and chorus being the standard one, the rest being a playparty)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 548, "Yankee Doodle came to town" (6 texts)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #109, p. 92, "(Yankee Doodle)"
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 270, "Yanke Doodle Dandy" (1 short text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 152, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 104, p. 133, "Nursery Rhyme" (1 text of two verses, the first being "Yankee Doodle" and the second "Lucy Locket/Hunt the Squirrel")
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, pp. 18-19, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 3-8, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text plus fragments)
Rabson-SongbookOfTheAmericanRevolution, p. 56, "The Yankees Return from Camp" (1 text)
Krythe-SamplerOfAmericanSongs 1, pp. 3-14, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, pp. 382-383, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 338-340, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 71, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 292, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, pp. 21-23, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 659-660+, "Yankee Doodle"
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2684, p. 182, "Yankee Doodle" (5 references); #2685, p. 182, "Yankee Doodle" (5 references)
Dime-Song-Book #34, pp. 43-44, "The Original Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 142, 175, "Yankee Doodle" (notes only)
Ford-SongHistories, pp. 158-162, "Yankee Doodle" (sundry verses but no coherent text)
DT, YANKDOOD*
ADDITIONAL: Harry Dichter and Elliott Shapiro, _Early American Sheet Music: Its Lure and Its Lore, 1768-1889_, R. R. Bowker, 1941, pp. 7-8, prints parts of six early versions of the text; pp. 17-19 describes nine printed copies from before 1810 and on plate #2 shows a test and tune which appear to predate the Revolutionary War version
Gregory Walker, Mary Clapinson, Lesley Forbes, Editors, _The Bodleian Library: A Subject Guide to the Collections_, Bodleian Press, 2004, plate XIX (following p. 128), "Yanke Doodle, or (as now Christened by the Saints of New England) The Lexington March" (a reproduction of what is said to be the earliest print of the music, broadside Harding G 70(3), reportedly one of only three copies of this edition to survive)
William E. Studwell and Bruce R. Schueneman, _State Songs of the Unites States: An Annotated Anthology_, The Haworth Press, 1997, p. 26, "(Yankee Doodle)" (1 short text; tune on p. 93)
ADDITIONAL: William L. Stone, _Ballads and Poems Relating to the Burgoyne Campaign_, 1893 (I use the 1970 Kennikat Press reissue), p. 71, "(Two Burgoyne Ditties)" (1 short text, which does not mention John Burgoyne)
Roud #4501
RECORDINGS:
Piper's Gap Ramblers, "Yankee Doodle" (OKeh 45185, 1928; rec. 1927)
Pete Seeger, "Yankee Doodle" (on PeteSeeger17) (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 31(146), "Yankee Doodle ("Father and I went down to camp, along with captain Goodwin"), A.W. Auner (Philadelphia), c.1860; also Harding B 31(128), "Yanke Doodle"[not misspelled in the text]
LOCSinging, sb40592b, "Yankee Doodle," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also hc00037b, "Yanke Doodle"[not misspelled in the text]
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Confederate 'Yankee Doodle'"
cf. "Yanke Doodle (Lord Howe Put On His Fine Red Coat)"
cf. "The Presidents (The Presidents in Rhyme)" (tune)
cf. "The Battle of the Kegs" (tune)
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (tune)
cf. "Fair and Free Elections" (tune)
cf. "Uncle John is Sick Abed" (tune)
cf. "Mrs. Brown Went to Town" (structure and some words)
cf. "Monitor and Merrimac" (tune)
cf. "Multiplication Table Song" (tune)
cf. "The Valiant Conscript" (tune)
cf. "Spinsters Gay" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Confederate "Yankee Doodle" (File: R249)
Yankee Doodle (Tea Tax version) (File: Morr002)
The Presidents (The Presidents in Rhyme) (File: R877)
The Battle of the Kegs (File: SBoA077)
Fair and Free Elections (File: FSWB284)
Uncle John Is Sick Abed (File: LIWUJISA)
Monitor and Merrimac (File: CAFS1195)
Multiplication Table Song (File: Stou103H)
The Valiant Conscript (File: SCWF201)
Spinsters Gay (File: Brne055)
Bump Me into Parliament (File: Clev087)
Plutocracy (File: Clev106)
Mary Was a Three-badge Wren (File: Tawn090)
O Chester (File: Paro402)
Yankee Dewey (File: LaGo057)
Mormon Army Song (File: CAFS2062)
The Good Old Yankee Doodle (For the Fourth of July) (File: ChMS185)
The Seaforth's Sob (File: NeTT086)
No Quarter (File: NeTT087)
Yankee Doodle, Scooter Version ("Yankee Doodle went to town, Riding on a scooter, Hit a bump....") (Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 113)
Riding on a Turtle ("Yankee Doodle went to town, Riding on a turtle... just in time To see a lady's girdle") (Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 115)
The Lexington March ("Brother Ephraim sold his Cow and bought him a Commision" [sic.]) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 52)
The Times (Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 144-146)
The Embargo (Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 342-344)
The Preposition Song (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 203)
James K. Polk campaign song: "The Democrats will be triumphant" (see John Siegenthaler, _James K. Polk_, Times Books, 2003, p. 91)
Sir William he, Snug as a flea (broadside lampooning General Sir William Howe's liaison with Mrs. Loring) (see Stanley Weintraub, _Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783_, Free Press, 2005, p. 123)
The Chain Masters came along (Jon Raven, _The Urban and Industrial Songs of the Black Country and Birmingham_, Broadside, 1977, pp. 246-247)
Yankee Song ("There is a man in our town, I'll tell you his condition") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, pp. 34-35, and cf. p. 33)
The Procession, with the Standard of Faction ("Good neighbours, if you're not afraid, Be not in Trepidation") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 41)
Adam's Fall: The Trip to Cambridge ("When Congress sent great Washington") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 60)
As Jack the King's Commander [referring to John Burgoyne] (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 71)
Yankee Doodle Expedition to Rhode-Island ("From Lewis, Monsieur Gerard came") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 79; Rabson-SongbookOfTheAmericanRevolution, pp. 60-61)
The Recess ("And now our Senators are gone To take their leave of London") (Rabson-SongbookOfTheAmericanRevolution, p. 61)
Original Union Song! ("The Southern rooster loudly crows") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 118)
On the Affair Between the Rebel Generals HOWE and GADDESEN ("It was on Mr. Peroy's land") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 80)
The Dance ("Cornwallis led a country dance, The like was never seen, sir") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 93)
Yankee Song ("The 'Vention did in Boston meet, But State-Houses could not hold 'em") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 107)
(Brother Jonathan) ("Brother Jon'than, what are you 'bout, What the nation ails you?") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 132)
Trip to Launching ("Says Bob to Dick, come let us go To Boston Town, to launching") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 137)
New Verses ("Sing Yankee Doodle, that fine tune, Americans delight in") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 141)
Columbians all the present hour as Brothers should Unite us (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, pp. 146-147)
Federalists, Be On Your Guard (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 162)
Republicans, Be On Your Guard (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 162)
A Song Supposed to have been written by The Sage of Monticello ("Of all the damsels on the green... A lass so luscious ne'er was seen As Monticellean Sally") (An attack on Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 175)
A Song -- Composed by a Sailor ("Bad news is come from Washington, So sailors land your cargo," referring to the Jeffersonian embargo on British products) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 185)
Yankee Doodle ("A Yankee boy is trim and tall") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 199)
Corn Cobs Twist Your Hair (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, pp. 258-259)
Harrison Song ("On seventy six, our minds we'll fix," a campaign song for William Henry Harrison) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 282)
The Times Are Growing Hot (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, p. 6)
The Hero Plowman ("The hero plowman of North Behd") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 54)
Song for the Working Men ("That Matty [Martin Van Buren] loves the Working man, No working man can doubt, sirs") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 286)
We're the Boys For Mexico ("The Mexican's [sic.] are doomed to fall, God has in his wrath forsook 'em") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 316)
The Song for All Parties ("Our fathers fought, our fathers died," by Francis F. Eastlack, 1857) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 146)
The Yankee Boy ("A Yankee Boy is trim and tall," by Isadore Leopold) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 181)
Yankee Doodle [No. 2] ("Ye gallant sons of liberty") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 182)
Yankee Doodle No. 3 ("Yankee Doodle! long ago") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 182)
General Butler ("Butler and I went out from camp") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 189)
Southern Yankee Doodle ("The Gallant Major Anderson") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, pp. 194-195)
Southern Yankee Doodle ("Yankee Doodle was the boy") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 195)
(James A. Garfield campaign song against Winfield Scott Hancock, 1880) ("My brigadiers, let us forget Which side it was we fought on") (Paul F. Boller, Jr., _Presidential Campaigns_, second revised edition, Oxford University Press, p. 145)
Gratulandum Est ("In Doodle Yankee Cantandum," "Qui alicujus gradus lau") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 22)
Ancient Mariner ("There was an ancient mariner -- In Coleridge is his 'Rime,' sir") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 77)
A Student's Life ("Oh, we're a jolly set of boys, As ever went to college") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 121)
Origin of the Grange ("From sixty-one to sixty-five the Union was disrupted") (by A. P. Knapp) (Albert P. Knapp, _Grange Songster_, 1915, p. 22)
Independence Day ("Again we hail the day's return That gave us independence") (Foner, p. 62)
The Shoemaker's Song ("Written for the strikers by Allen Peabody, Wenham, Massachusetts") ("Ye jours and snobs throughout the land, 'Tis time to be astir") (Foner, p. 73)
Labor's Yankee Doodle ("We, toilers, have made up our minds To have a revolution") (Foner, p. 265)
Yankee Doodle (song against Grover Cleveland) ("Once on a time old Grover C. Sent forth a great big bellow") (by C. A. Sheffield) (Foner, p. 280)
[Socialist parody by W. B. Creech] ("Workingmen assembled here, No matter what your nation, Raise your voices now against Old Bismarck's cowardly action") (Foner, p. 297)
The Fire Brigade Dinner, Part I ("Just listen, I'm about to sing About the Fire Brigade dinner, The facts that I shall now advance As true as I'm a sinner") (by Charles R. Thatcher) (Anderson-ColonialMinstrel, p. 95)
The Garfield Yankee Doodle ("James A. Garfield is the man Our party nominated") (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p. 6)
Hancock to His Southern Brigadiers ("My Brigadiers, let us forget, Which side it was we fought on, --") (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p.21)
Get Prohibition ("Prohibition's sure to come In our beloved state, sir") (by Anna A. Gordon) (Anna Adams Gordon, _Popular Campaign Songs_, National W.C.T.U. Publishing House, 1915, p. 26)
We're Glad You're Here ("O ???, we're glad you're here We're glad that we can meet you") (Harbin-Parodology, #175, p. 48)
Atlantic Cable Song ("Success, at last, sits like a crown, Upon our work gigantic") ( Mary Morton Cowan, _Cyrus Field's Big Dream: The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable_, Calkins Clark, 2018, p. 119)
NOTES [530 words]: There is a reference to "Yankee Doodle" in a comic opera of 1767 ("The Disappointment, or The Force of Credulity" by Andrew Barton; see Dichter/Shapiro, p. 17 and the sheet music reproduced in plate #2), but given the references in the common version to the continental army and "Captain Washington," the piece as commonly sung can hardly predate the Revolutionary War.
Krythe-SamplerOfAmericanSongs gives an extensive summary of the stories told about the song's origins, including a similar piece of doggerel allegedly dating to the time of Cromwell (died 1658). This is presumably the piece that inspired the incomparable Katherine Elwes Thomas, The Real Personages of Mother Goose, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1930, p. 259, to claim the song is about Prince Rupert. But surely most of these claims must be regarded as folkloric. Similarly Spaeth, in his A History of Popular Music in America, devotes thousands of words (pp.15-21) to the known history and alleged antecedents of the song. The sum, as Spaeth makes abundantly clear, tells us very little. We must confess that we really don't know the history of the song. The Opies mention the attribution to Shuckburgh -- and say it is "now discredited."
There are certainly antecedents of the song, though; see the SAME TUNE entries from Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents.
Laura Ingalls Wilder had a curious version (Little House in the Big Woods, chapter 2) with a chorus I have not seen elsewhere: "And I'll sing Yankee Doodle-de-do, and I'll sing Yankee Doodle" (x2). This portion of the Little House books is fictional (Laura did not live in Wisconsin at the age described), and so we cannot date the song, but it is presumably traditional.
This "Yankee Doodle" is obviously not to be confused with the 1812 song "The Constitution and the Guerriere," sometimes titled "Yankee Doodle Dandy-O."
According to William E. Studwell and Bruce R. Schueneman, State Songs of the Unites States: An Annotated Anthology, The Haworth Press, 1997, p. 26, "Yankee Doodle" (the short "Macaroni" version) became Connecticut's state song in 1978,
Sam Cowell in the nineteenth century sang a song known as "Corn Cobs, or Yankee Notions" (Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 14-16; broadside Bodleian, Harding B 11(695), unknown, no date). There is no tune listed in either source, but it fits "Yankee Doodle," and it has several "Yankee Doodle" verses. I strongly suspect it is sung to this tune. The chorus is "Corn cobs twist your hair, Cart wheels surround you, Fiery dragons carry you off, And mortar pestal pound you." It refers to an invasion of Canada, although there was no such event in Cowell's lifetime. A strange song. - RBW
I have not listed all the [broadside] variants ("Yankee Doodle No.2," "Yankee Doodle No.3," and others including an "Original Yankee Doodle"). You can find them among the Bodleian and LOCSinging collections.
Broadside LOCSinging sb40592b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site.
Broadsides LOCSinging hc00037b and Bodleian Harding B 31(128) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LxA521

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography