The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-22
ORIGIN OF YANKEE DOODLE
Seven Hundred Years Old and Claim
ed by Four Nations.
from the New York sun

Seven Hundred Years Old and Claim
ed by Four Nations.
From the New York SUM-
Yankee Doodle" is one OF the Oldest
songs in the world. and at different periods
Of an unparalleled career has belonged 10
England. to the once vast empire OF Hol-
land and to the Roman Catholic Church
where il probably originated. somewhere
about the year 1900 \. ID. II you happen
to be a musician and do not believe that
such an undignifed ditty ever could have
been intended for solemn purposes, play u
over on a pipe organ. very simply and
slowly and as the majesty Of grand old
papal chant fills your soul all your doubts
will vanish
Several hundred years ago the good pso-
pie of Holland thought so much OF yam
kee Doodle that they adopted the tune
for harvest song and made up new words
for it. Mary Mapes Dodge gives one of the
verses in Hans Bfinker;
Yanker didee dude down.
Didee dude laun,er.
Yankee viver yOoyer vown
ButeTmelt und tagnter-
Nobody knows exactly what the verse
meant, but the lines are interesting. be-
cause they are primarily responsible for
the word Yankee" and for the familiar
English version OF Yankee Doodle.
| verse became so popular among all classes
in Holland that it became truly national
song 1t was sung In livelier time than
the cid chant which il supplanted,
While the great naval war of the six
teenth century vas in progress the Eng
| lish, under Admiral Drake. caught the
tune Much to the surprise of everybody
England broke the mighty sea power OF
Holland, and when the fighting was over
the English people sang mocling parodiss
of the cid song against its hated authors.
Yankee was understood to mean Dutch
man. Since the Dutch were sharp traders.
the popular meaning of the word came TO
| be shrewd. hard headed, ungracious sort
of fellow. Holland then tried rgeJ
| the song. and 1t thus passed into the lands
| OF another nation.
All England sang varying words to il in
| Oliver CrOmwell's time. But one day
the day that the great reformer rode into
oxford at the head OF the rebels to battle
with the Kings army-he wore an i'm
mense ostrich feather fastened 10 his hat
by q band of heavy silk 'maccaroni''
/ cord Yankee Doodle then being term
of contemptuCus ridicuie. one OF the cou-
tiers of the boastful King composed the
famous refrain:
Yankee Doodle came to town
| Riding a pony;
| Stuck a feather in his nat
And called it maccaroni.
The rhyme did not hold its first popu-
larity very long, because the rebels we e
successful, and probably it would have
been forgotten entirely had not the Old
Kings son returned to power few years
later. Meanwhile the reformers had sung
the tune to many nonsense verses. which
soon spread TO America.
The best known of the verses was "Ly-
dia Fishers Jig" which made its appear
ance in New England about the We iTf3.
and became famous as a dance song. The
words ran:
Lucy Locket lost her pocket:
-I-y dia Fisher found it.
| Not 4 hit II money in it,
Only binding round it.
Lucy Locket was very popular till
11I5. when British regulars were encamp-
ed on Boston Common, and the natives OF
the city and surrounding towns were or
ganiZing into companies of minute men"
under John Hancock. While as yet there
had been no open War. the feeling was
very bitter among the eolonists, who were
held in such contempt by the soldiers that
they were tainted with the familiar tune
to the words:
Yankee Doodle came to town
For 10 buy hreiock;
| We viii tar and feather him
| And 50 we will john Hancock
This made the colonIsts so angry that
put to such contemptuous words against
themselves. = few weeks later something
happened that changed their minds, for Z
was the destiny Of Yankee Doodle 10 be
come. apparently foreter, the undisputed
property OF American.
In April, l115, Lord Percy marched out
of Boston with a brigade of British regI-
lars to dispense the rebels assembled At
Lexington and Concord Amid cheering
and fiving flags the bands Dlayed Yankee
Doodle and the relocated soldiers saus
boastfully the old words which had vdinly
ridiculed Oliver Cromwell over a hundred
years before. Perhaps, when they began
to sing, they had forgotten how. even be-
fore CTomwelfs time the tune had been
turned against its very authors He must
have remembered before returning TO Bos-
ton. for AT Lexington the Wanted soldiers
of King George were routed by a handful
of patriots, who. when they saw how things
were going, went wild with Joy and taking
the words right out of the mouths OF their
adversarieS shouted in exultation the song
which had been aimed at them in con-
tempt.
During the flight back to camp the regu-
lars were peppered with shot from behind
stone walls and trees. so much to their own
discomfort that Lord Percy. in a fit OF dis
gust, next morning confessed that after
Doodle" they mad danced TO it all the way
home.
Yankee Doodle has already belonged
| TO the three great families of the Cauca-
sian race-the Latin, the Teutonic and the
Anglo Saxon. In seven centuries it has
! been carried into the heart OF four of the
greatest political powers of history. Now
that expansion is an accomplished fact
who can tell what new freaks destiny Will
! Dlay with