{"id":10958,"date":"2022-07-27T09:04:27","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T08:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=10958"},"modified":"2022-07-27T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T08:36:58","slug":"yankee-doodle-went-to-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2022\/07\/27\/yankee-doodle-went-to-town\/","title":{"rendered":"YANKEE DOODLE WENT TO TOWN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

YANKEE DOODLE WENT TO TOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

so let\u00b4s all run along with him<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

suggests Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have fol lowed some labrynthian sidetracks and detours over the years, and most of them are evocative to me, and i hope to most readers in various ways. Today\u00b4s piece takes me back to my childhood and memories of sitting on the settee (we didn\u00b4t call them sofas until DHS told us to) with my dad watching black and white movies on a television that had only two channels but four legsd. My mind goes back to one particular movie through which dad kept repeating the catch phrase the lead actor was known for but which had noting to do with this particular film at all. It was. probably the first musical film I had ever seen butI already knew most of the songs in the film because i had listened to dad singing them every morning as he drove us to school<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Still, I\u00b4m not sure that opening with a photograph of a statue of George M Cohan (right)<\/em><\/strong> , beloved of Presidents and thought by most of us to lay claim to being America\u00b4s greatest ever showman, might not necessarily lead you to the real subject matter of today\u00b4s article in which I invite you to join us singing nursery rhymes and Uncle Sam and 4th July and Jack And Jill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jacob Uitti, writing recently in American Songwriter, Yankee Doodle Dandy is a song learned by generations of American children. Over in the UK, children also learned the tune, as it had centuries earlier been adapted to several of the nursery crhymes (thank you Tony Webb, of The Nearly Dead Poets. I knew I would \u00b4borrow\u00b4 that phrase one day) I knew as a child sixty five years ago. to\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob Iutti, though, reminds us that in America Yankee Doodle is still seen as a patriotic song. It\u2019s a patriotic song\u2014indeed, it\u2019s the official state anthem of Connecticut\u2014and it\u2019s a song that brings a smile to our faces, singing of features in caps and macaroni. You will see later why that makes it a perfectly fitting piece of memorabilia for the life of the late, great George M Cohan, beloved of Presiodents and thought by most to be America\u00b4s greatest ever showman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does it all mean? To find out, dear reader, let\u2019s dive in and investigate the history and meaning of the famous nursery rhyme, \u201cYankee Doodle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d predates the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the Seven Years\u2019 War (1756-1763). Ever since its writing, the song has been sung as a patriotic anthem. And many scholars believe the tune of the song is even older than the nursery rhyme, itself. The melody perhaps even goes back to folk songs of Medieval Europe. In fact, the melody may date back to an old Irish song, \u201cAll the Way to Galway<\/a>,\u201d in which the second strain is identical to \u201cYankee Doodle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the earliest lyrics of the song come from a Middle Dutch harvest song, which also follows the same tune and likely dates back as far as the 15th century in Holland. That song contained mostly gibberish lines like \u201cYanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown,  Botermilk<\/em> und tanther<\/em>.\u201d Apparently, farmhands in Holland were paid \u201cas much buttermilk as they could drink, and a tenth of the grain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song is attributed to Richard Shuckburgh, who likely wrote it in America at Fort Crailo around 1755.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the song\u2019s tune is shared with others like \u201cJack and Jill.\u201d It also reportedly inspired the theme song used for the children\u2019s television show, Barney & the Backyard Gang<\/em> and Barney & Friends<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cDoodle\u201d shows up in the English language in the early 17th century. It is thought to be derived from the German word \u201cdudel,\u201d which means \u201cplaying music badly.\u201d Another close relation is the term \u201cD\u00f6del,\u201d which means \u201cfool\u201d or \u201csimpleton.\u201d (This is likely also where our slang \u201cDude\u201d comes from.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to scholars, the Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion statement in the 1770s and it was known as a slang term for a fop, which was a pejorative word for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes around that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cdandy\u201d also appears in \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d and that word, similar to \u201cfop,\u201d denotes someone who placed importance on physical appearance and refined language, as well as leisure activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the \u201cmacaroni\u201d wig was something a \u201cfop\u201d or \u201cdandy\u201d might wear to look important and of a certain status or class. Macaroni was even used as a term to describe a fashionable man, most often derisively, someone who exceeded the ordinary understanding of fashion, grooming, eating, or gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In British vernacular, then, the term \u201cYankee doodle dandy\u201d meant someone who was unsophisticated but who took on upper-class fashion\u2014as if sticking a feather in your hat may give you supreme status. Therefore, the line in the nursery rhyme was likely an insult from the British to the colonists who the Brits saw as lower-class men who lacked masculinity and true status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d was originally sung by the British military officers to mock the American colonists, the shabby \u201cYankees,\u201d with whom they fought with during the French and Indian War (1754\u20131763).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written at Fort Crailo around 1755 by British Army surgeon Richard Shuckburgh while campaigning in Rensselaer, New York, the British troops sang the song to make fun of their American soldier counterparts, who, the British joked, thought were stylish just by placing a random feather in their likely tricorn hats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

photo Washington Later, the song became popular amongst Americans as a song of defiance. They would then add verses to mock the British troops and simultaneously pay tribute to General (and first President) George Washington, who was the Commander of the Continental army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1781, the meaning of \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d had turned from being an insulting tune to one of American pride. That\u2019s subversion, baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to one account, Shuckburgh penned the original lyrics after seeing the Colonial troops under Colonel Thomas Fitch, who was the son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch. And the current version seems to have been filled out and written in 1776 by Edward Bangs, a Harvard sophomore who was also a Minuteman. Bangs wrote the song\u2019s 15 verses, which later circulated in Boston and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the subversion of the song, according to a Boston newspaper, after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, one British soldier asked another how he liked \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d now? To which the latter responded, \u201cDang them [the American troops]. They made us dance it till we were tired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an alternate verse of the song that is said to have been a favorite for the British to march to. It stems from an incident involving one Thomas Ditson of Billerica, Massachusetts. British soldiers are said to have tarred and feathered Ditson because he tried to buy a musket in Boston in 1775. Ditson later fought at Concord. For this reason, Billerica is known as the home of \u201cYankee Doodle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That verse went:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy a firelock,
We will tar and feather him,
And so we will John Hancock<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Hancock famously signed the Declaration of Independence with the largest signature.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 25, 1999, a bill was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives to recognize Billerica, Massachusetts as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Yankee Doodle Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to scholars, the earliest known version of the lyrics is from around 1755 (though the official date is disputed) and they begin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brother Ephraim sold his Cow
And bought him a Commission;
And then he went to Canada
To fight for the Nation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when Ephraim he came home
He proved an arrant Coward,
He wouldn\u2019t fight the Frenchmen there
For fear of being devoured.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To buy a commission meant to purchase status or standing in the military.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song also appears in 1762 in one of America\u2019s first comic operas, The Disappointment<\/em>, which lyrics about the search for the pirate Blackbeard\u2019s buried treasure by a team from Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another pro-British version that goes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seventeen of June, at Break of Day,
The Rebels they supriz\u2019d us,
With their strong Works, which they\u2019d thrown up,
To burn the Town and drive us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d was played in victory at the British surrender in Saratoga, New York in 1777. One of the verses sung that day goes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankey Doodle came to town,
How do you think they serv\u2019d him?
One took his bag, another his scrip,
The quicker for to starve him<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And according to legend, after the aftermath of the important battle, the Siege of Yorktown, the surrounding British soldiers would not look at the victorious Americans, instead only giving eye contact to the French soldiers present. American ally, the Marquis de Lafayette, was angered by this and ordered his nearby band to play \u201cYankee Doodle\u201d to taunt the British. Finally, upon hearing the song, the British soldiers looked upon the victorious Americans. In the end, the full (lengthy) version of the song has come to read like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.<\/em>

Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.<\/em>

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

And there we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it could be sav\u00e8d.<\/em>

The \u2018lasses they eat every day,
Would keep a house a winter;
They have so much, that I\u2019ll be bound,
They eat it when they\u2019ve a mind to.<\/em>

And there I see a swamping gun
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father\u2019s cattle.<\/em>

And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder,
And makes a noise like father\u2019s gun,
Only a nation louder.<\/em>

I went as nigh to one myself
As \u2018Siah\u2019s underpinning;
And father went as nigh again,
I thought the deuce was in him<\/em>

Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I shrinked it off
And hung by father\u2019s pocket.<\/em>

And Cap\u2019n Davis had a gun,
He kind of clapt his hand on\u2019t
And stuck a crooked stabbing iron
Upon the little end on\u2019t<\/em>

And there I see a pumpkin shell
As big as mother\u2019s basin,
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.<\/em>

I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked on it with little clubs
And called the folks together.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And there was Cap\u2019n Washington, (right)<\/strong>
And gentle folks about him;
They say he\u2019s grown so \u2018tarnal proud
He will not ride without \u2019em.<\/em>

He got him on his meeting clothes,
Upon a slapping stallion;
He sat the world along in rows,
In hundreds and in millions.<\/em>

The flaming ribbons in his hat,
They looked so tearing fine, ah,
I wanted dreadfully to get
To give to my Jemima.<\/em>

I see another snarl of men
A-digging graves, they told me,
So \u2018tarnal long, so \u2018tarnal deep,
They \u2018tended they should hold me.<\/em>

It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother\u2019s chamber.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

hmmm,\u2026

So Jacob Iutti, has clarified for his readers the history of this profusion and confusion of words. All the clues were there in the words we knew and sang as kids but I\u00b4m not at all sure that as a child in the UK I would have placed all this at the heart of a war from previous centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are reasons I remember and treasure the song, so well, though and those reasons include a black and white (I\u00b4m sure) American movie and one of my favourite movies stars, who to add to all this confusion, apparently never actually said on screen the phrased he became indelibly associated with of  \u00b4\u00fdou, you dirty rat\u00b4 whilst pointing a gun at someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

phto<\/strong>  James Francis Cagney, Jr.<\/strong> ( New York<\/a> , July 17,<\/a> 1899 –<\/a> Stanford ,<\/a> March 30 ,<\/a> 1986 )<\/a> 1 was<\/sup><\/a> an American <\/a>film <\/a>actor<\/a> and dancer<\/a> . Winner of major awards and actor in various roles, he is remembered for his tough guy<\/em> roles .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood out in the 1930s in the <\/a>Warner Bros<\/a> film company and maintained his relevance during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the winner of the 1943 Oscar for best leading actor for the film <\/a>Yankee Dandy<\/em><\/a> (1942).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first major film was William A. Wellman<\/a> ‘s The Public Enemy<\/em><\/a> . He reprized the gangster role in two films directed by Raoul Walsh<\/a> : The Roaring Twenties<\/em><\/a> and, most notably, Red Hot<\/em><\/a> , where he said his most famous line, “On top of the world, Mom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Cagney was a very versatile actor who appeared in all kinds of films, from comedies to dramas, through westerns<\/a> and even adaptations of Shakespeare’s works. Stand out in his filmography Of him Parade of footlights<\/em> , The handsome man<\/em> , A photographer has entered<\/em> and Angels with dirty faces<\/em><\/a> , in the thirties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the forties he continued to be one of the public’s favorite actors and continued to participate in great films. One of boxing, entitled Ciudad de conquista<\/em> , and the idealized biography of Yanqui Dandy<\/a> , performance with which he won the Oscar<\/a> for best actor. This success made him break with Warner and found his own production company, with which he was not successful, so he had to return to the Warner brothers’ production company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fifties he returned to work in some great films such as the Lion of the streets<\/em> , Love me or leave me<\/em> , Escala en Hawaii<\/em> or The man with a thousand faces<\/em> . He finally ended his career temporarily in 1961<\/a> , when he starred in the comedy One, Two, Three<\/em><\/a> , directed by Billy Wilder<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1981<\/a> he returned to acting in Ragtime<\/em><\/a> , where he again demonstrated his great acting talent. It was her last film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actor James Cagney died on March 30,<\/a> 1986 ,<\/a> at his home in Stanfordville at the age of 86, after being admitted to Lennox Hill Hospital in New York suffering from pulmonary edema. The year before he had suffered a myocardial infarction. He was survived by his wife, the dancer Frances Vernon (1899-1994), whom he had married in 1922<\/a> . He was buried in Hawthorne Cemetery, New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My dad was a huge fan of Cagney the crook, as he was so often typecast. Dad would repeat Cagney lines in that strange accent long before 20th<\/sup> century audiences were parroting Al Pacino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yankee Doodle to me, though seemed something of a departure for Cagney. The film was a musical portrait of composer\/singer\/dancer George M. Cohan<\/a>. From his early days as a child-star in his family’s vaudeville show up to the time of his comeback at which he received a medal from the president for his special contributions to the US, this was the life- story of George M. Cohan<\/a>, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in his own musical shows for which he composed his famous songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film was really telling Cohan\u00b4s story through a pasteboard repetition of many of the wonderful stage scenes he created throughout his life, and doing the telling ass Cohan himself in only a slight softening of his usual pugnacious manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess I would have been maybe eight or nine when I first saw this wonderful film one Christmas Day or Boxing Day and have seen it maybe another couple of times in the past sixty years. My memory is that Cagney\u00b4s role really surprised me because I was used to seeing him as a gangster in his most famous roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Cagney plays the role of a jockey (see our cover and top of article)<\/em> who has lost everything, accused as he is of race-fixing. Cagney sings and hoofs (if you will pardon the pun) on stage and tells his tale. At that age, I was merely a viewer, not a critic, but I seem to remember that I cried and laughed and cheered throughout the season, and I am wise enough now, at least to realise that isd a testimony to Cagney\u00b4s acting skills. I\u00b4m not sure that words like guilt, regret, compassion, shame or pride were even part of my vocabulary then, but somehow I \u00b4got\u00b4all that from the actor\u00b4s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain all that more fully, though I have rfead a film review of the time by the respected critic Robert Ebert, available online at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-yankee-doodle-dandy-1942<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Ebert says, this film is a testament to the power of entertainment during a time when people needed the escape. The song-and-dance of James Cagney as “The Man Who Owned Broadway,” George M. Cohan, is timeless cinema. Yankee Doodle Dandy<\/em> shows a time when talent was the most important “lowest common denominator” rather than sex, violence, CGI bombast, etc. It shows a time when Americans were capable of setting aside their ideological differences for the democratic ideal. A time when Cohan, upon receiving a telegram from FDR after performing in what is by today’s standards a tame parody of FDR, is worried that he has offended the President. It should give for many, during the ups and downs of a showbiz life spanning roughly six decades, a sense of what seems now lost in a 21st century of entertainment saturation, infotainment bubbles, and uncivil discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this movie also shows a time when minstrelsy was not only accepted, but also quite popular. It also skirts the line between patriotism and jingoism. The horrors of World War I are glossed over at best, and war is seen as a romantic endeavor, not coincidentally at a time when the United States was getting into the Second World War. One can’t help but wonder what Cohan’s views on war would be if he had actually served in the military and witnessed the carnage of World War I. Still, it’s easy to still feel transported to a place away from the concerns of everyday life even today during the movie’s most spectacular performances, and feel a thrill and wonder at a time when talent alone kept audiences in their seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n