Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy.
Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Gooding
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding. Chorus
There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion
A-giving orders to his men
I guess there was a million. Chorus
Why Did Yankee Doodle Stick a Feather In His
Hat and Call it Macaroni?
Back in Pre-Revolutionary America when the song "Yankee Doodle" was first
popular, the singer was not referring to the pasta "macaroni" in the line
that reads "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni". "Macaroni"
was a fancy ("dandy") style of Italian dress widely imitated in England at
the time. So by just sticking a feather in his cap and calling himself a "Macaroni"
(a "dandy"), Yankee Doodle was proudly proclaiming himself to be a country
bumpkin, because that was how the English regarded most colonials at that
time. But times have long since changed, and it is important to reflect on
the fact that despite the turbulant early relationship between England and
the American colonists, our two countries are strongly united.
