On April 19, 1775, troops under the command of Brigadier General Hugh Percy played "Yankee Doodle" as they marched from Boston to reinforce British soldiers already fighting the Americans at Lexington and Concord. Whether sung or played on that occasion, the tune was martial and intended to deride the colonials:
Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy a firelock;
We will tar and feather him
And so we will John Hancock.
(CHORUS)
Yankee Doodle, keep it up,
Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Mind the Music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.
There are numerous conflicting accounts of the origin of "Yankee Doodle." Some credit its melody to an English air, others to Irish, Dutch, Hessian, Hungarian and Pyrenean tunes or a New England jig….
"Yankee Doodle" was well known in the New England colonies before Lexington and Concord but only after the skirmishes there did the American militia appropriate it. Tradition holds that the colonials began to sing it as they forced the British back to Boston on April 19, 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord. It is documented that the Americans sang the following verse at Bunker Hill:
Father and I went down to camp,
along with Captain Good'in,
And there we see the men and boys
as thick as hasty puddin'.
"Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people.''
"It's not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters… I did it for them.''
Eureka!
