15/02/2024, 14:17 Yankee Doodle - Folklorist

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T
“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...."
Notes
There is a reference to "Yankee Doodle" in a comic opera of 1767 ("The
Disappointment, or The Force of Credulity" by Andrew Barton), 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 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). Most of them 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.
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." - 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

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Same tune
Confederate "Yankee Doodle" (File: R249)
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)
The Times (Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 144-146)
The Embargo (Darling-NAS, pp. 342-344)
The Preposition Song (Pankake-PHCFSB, 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 liason with Mrs. Loring) (see Stanley Weintraub,
_Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire:
1775-1783_, Free Press, 2005, p. 123)
Cross references
cf. "Confederate 'Yankee Doodle'"
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)
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]
Recordings
Piper's Gap Ramblers, "Yankee Doodle" (OKeh 45185, 1928; rec.
1927)
Pete Seeger, "Yankee Doodle" (on PeteSeeger17) (on
PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
References
1. Lomax-ABFS, pp. 521-525, "Yankee Doodle" (4 texts, 1 tune,
although 1 text is the Confederate version)
2. Linscott, 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)
3. Opie-Oxford2 548, "Yankee Doodle came to town" (6 texts)
4. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #109, p. 92, "(Yankee Doodle)"
5. Arnett, pp. 18-19, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)

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6. Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 3-8, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text plus

fragments)
7. Krythe 1, pp. 3-14, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
8. Darling-NAS, pp. 338-340, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
9. PSeeger-AFB, p. 71, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
10. Silber-FSWB, p. 292, "Yankee Doodle" (1 text)
11. Fuld-WFM, pp. 659-660+, "Yankee Doodle"
12. DT, YANKDOOD*
13. Roud #4501
14. BI, LxA521

About
Author: sometimes credited to Dr. Richard Shuckburgh
Earliest date: 1794
Keywords: war rebellion humorous America
Found in: US(All)

The Traditional Ballad Index is copyright ©2008 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. The Digital Tradition is copyright The
Mudcat Cafe. ©2023 dwyer.dev.

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