The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-28
YANKEE DOODLE" J."
VARIOUS VERSIONS OF THE FA-
NOUS SONGS ORIGIN.
Written Originally to Satirize Oliver
Cromwell-Aterward Used by
the British to Poke Fun at
American Recruits.


inc reinforcements of militia from the
Eastern States, previous to marching upon
Ticonderoga. During the month of July
these raw lions poured into camp COM
pany after company, each man differently
armed, equipped and accoutred from his
neighbors, the whole presenting such an
appearance as was never equaled, unless
by the celebrated Army o. Jack Falstaff.
Their appearance furnished great amuSe-
ment to the British officers. One DR..
Shamburg, an English surgeon, COM
posed the tune of Yankee Doodle, and
arranged it to words, which were gravely
dedicated to the new recruits. The orig
inal words, which we take from Farmer
and Moore's Historical Collections, pub.
lished in 1920, we have not, however,
met with before in many years."
With the needful historical corrections
that the attack on Tconderoga by Aber-
crornbie took. place in 1853, and not
1875, and that DR.. Shamburg did not
compose the tune of "Yankee Doodle, "
the above as quoted is generally correct.
Another authority states that the song
originally appeared in a Boston newspa-
per in IT'S, under the title of "1he
Yankees Return from Camp" This YER
sion Of the famous song appears in the
Historical Collections of New Hamp-
shire. The first verse and chorus ct this
version are as follows:
Father and went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
Ard there we see the men and boys,
As thick as hasty pudding.
Yankee Doodle. keep itup,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be candy.
There are fifteen additional verses in
this version of the song. There Is q
mistake somewhere, for yankee Doodle"
in both words and music, has lineage
that dates farther back than either 1875
or 1853. In an old newspaper, The Co.
lun,bian Gazette, published in George.
town, D. c., duiing the earlier years Of
this century, appears letter from cor.
respondent telling of his having seen, in
the collection of gentleman in Chelten.
ham England, called "Musical Antiqui.
ties of England" song entitled MAN
hee DOoole, ouc VI Iue NSkSCS oA "AaSh
ran as follows:
Nankee Doodle came to town,
Upon little pony,
With feather in his h%t,
Upon Macaroni.
The song was written after the restora.
tion of Charles H., and the verse given
is satirical allusion to Cromwell's goise
to Oxford, on a horse, with his single
plume fastened to his hat by q small
knot called "Macaroni."
Watson, in his Occurrences of th'
Revolution, says: "Before the RevolH.
ton, under another name, Lydia Fisher
('Yankee DoodleD was favorite Ne~
England jig. the custom being to sing it
with impromptu words, such as:
Lydia Locket lost her pocket,
Lydia FISHER found it,
Not bit of money in it,
Only binding round it,
which, instead of being an impromptS
verse, is part of song from Fays "Beg.
gars Opera, " first performed in 1927. Mist
Clayton, in her "Lives of Celebrated
Singers" asserts that from that operi
the tune was derived; but the fact il
that it was only one of the many popu'
lar airs of the time that were incorpor'
ated in the opera. During the Revolu
ton, when arms and ammunition were
carried from Boston into the country ir
carts, ostensibly loaded with manure,
the British officers adapted the following
words to the tune:
Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy frelock,
We will tar and feather him,
And so we will John Hancock.
Watson, in his "Annals of Philadel
phia," says that John Carr, who opened
the first music store in Baltimore, in 1897,
had book of tunes, one called an "Ail
from Ulysses" an Engligh opera, written
for Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London,
about 1871, by John Christian Smith;
which was indentical with the air Of
"Yankee Doodle" Watson give US tht
first verse of the original American song
Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Do it neat and hand:
The boy to fog the British troops,
Is Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Clearly all patriotic Americans should
feel proud of ''Yankce Doodle" Writ
ten originally to satirize the dead Pro.
tector, Oliver Cromwell, by some friend
of the newly returned Stuart, Charles H.,
nearly a century later it was still popular
enoug Oh to be used in the greatest dra'
matio success of the age; second tine
it appeared in opera, and then crossed the
Atlantic, where it at once became fa'
vorite. Although used by the British aa
means of poking fun at the recruits In
the army, in less than fifty years the SONG
was used by the descendants of those re-.
cruits as battle cry when chasing ths
British out of the United States. The
song of ''Yankee Doodle" truthfully rep.
resents the spirit of the nation, and
long may
Yankee Doodle keep 1t up,
And do it neat and handy.
whatever he undertakes.-Wi WI H. Glenn.
ems, IT, the Current.
tot Douonff