Independence Day

Yankee Doodle

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. "
-- words written on the Liberty Bell

The song "Yankee Doodle Dandy" expresses European perceptions of the colonials. It reflects the supposed backwardness of America, typified by the long life of the three-cornered tricorne (and also by the fact that in 1775, most of Washington's army showed up in its everyday work clothes with men wearing handkerchiefs on their heads).

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" began before the Revolution, though. When the colonial forces supported the British at Niagara during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the Brits—always very natty in their red uniforms (later, red targets)—were amused by the colonials' backwoods appearance and sang about it. "Macaroni," the most bemusing word in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," refers to the fact that Italy and France were centers of European haute couture. The joke was that a colonial—a Yankee "dandy"—would stick a feather in his tricorne or coonskin cap and think himself as fashionable as any man à la mode in Paris or Rome.

A British surgeon, Dr. Richard Schuckberg, is credited with writing down "Yankee Doodle Dandy" after the French and Indian War. When the American War of Independence broke out, the song gained popularity with British troops because it derided the provinciality of colonial culture and speech (there are around 190 verses that poke great fun).

Selection by the Information Resource Center

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