Yankee Doodle
(traditional lyrics from the American Revolution)

Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding;
And there we saw the men and boys,
As thick as hasty pudding.

Yankee doodle, keep it up,
Yankee doodle dandy;
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion,
A-giving orders to his men,
I guess there was a million.

And then the feathers on his hat,
They looked so' tarnal fin-a,
I wanted pockily to get
To give to my Jemima.

And then we saw a swamping gun,
Large as a log of maple;
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.

And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder;
It makes a noise like father's gun,
Only a nation louder.

I went as nigh to one myself,
As' Siah's underpinning;
And father went as nigh agin,
I thought the deuce was in him.

We saw a little barrel, too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked upon it with little clubs,
And called the folks together.

And there they'd fife away like fun,
And play on cornstalk fiddles,
And some had ribbons red as blood,
All bound around their middles.

The troopers, too, would gallop up
And fire right in our faces;
It scared me almost to death
To see them run such races.

Uncle Sam came there to change
Some pancakes and some onions,
For' lasses cake to carry home
To give his wife and young ones.

But I can't tell half I see
They kept up such a smother;
So I took my hat off, made a bow,
And scampered home to mother.

Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I streaked it off,
And hung by father's pocket.

And there I saw a pumpkin shell,
As big as mother's basin;
And every time they touched it off,
They scampered like the nation.

Yankee doodle, keep it up,
Yankee doodle dandy;
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy

*The tune was brought to this country
in 1755 when the British were engaged
in a war with the French and Indians.
The story goes that the militia which
were called to aid the British regular
army were strangely clad in many colors,
some wearing long coats, some short
ones, and many having none to wear.
In the British army was one Dr. Richard
Shackburg, who not only mended shattered
limbs, but was somewhat of a musician. One
he thought to play a joke upon the militia
because grotesque figure and awkward manner,
and with much solemnity he presented them the
words and music of "Yankee Doodle,"
commending the tune as one of the most
distinguished in martial music. The joke
greatly pleased to well dressed British
officers, but as a joke it proved a stupendous
failure, for the tune became the battl
march of the Revolution.

The original "Yankee Doodle"
words which became the song of
the Revolution, are said to have
been written by a Connecticut gentleman,
and it seems that fate did him a
kindness by concealing his name.