Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle is the title of a well-known American song, the meaning and text of which have changed over and over again.
Basics
The first verse that is mostly sung today is:
Yankee Doodle went to town,
A-riding on a pony;
Stuck a feather in his hat,
And called it macaroni.
Refrain:
Yankee Doodle, keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy!
The melody is likely based on the sleep / children's song "Lucy Locket". According to some sources, the text is ascribed to the British Army doctor Richard Shuckburgh.
history
Originally it was a mockery song by British officers to mock the subordinate, in their eyes undisciplined and disorganized " Yankees " with whom they fought together in the French and Indian War. As early as the American Revolutionary War , the residents of the USA recorded the song and gave it a positive, patriotic rating. During the Civil War , the song became the tune of the northern states .
The Yankee Doodle has become a synonym for the USA, the Voice of America station plays the melody every day at the beginning and end of its program. The tune is Connecticut's official anthem .
The Yankee Doodle was repackaged as a military marching song by Barry Taylor during the War of Independence. During this time, over 190 stanzas were written, the content of which often mocked the British and glorified the Americans' struggle for freedom. This version of the Yankee Doodle is the most famous patriotic version of the original song:
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
Yankee doodle, keep it up
Yankee doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy.
There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion
A-giving orders to his men
I guess there was a million.
-Chorus-
And then the feathers on his hat
They looked so 'tarnal fin-a
I wanted pockily to get
To give to my Jemima.
And then we saw a swamping gun
Large as a log of maple
Upon a deuced little cart
A load for father's cattle.
Chorus
And every time they shoot it off
It takes a horn of powder
It makes a noise like father's gun
Only a nation louder.
Chorus
I went as nigh to one myself
As' Siah's underpinning
And father went as nigh agin
I thought the deuce was in him.
We saw a little barrel, too
The heads were made of leather
They knocked upon it with little clubs
And called the folks together.
Chorus
And there they'd fife away like fun
And play on cornstalk fiddles
And some had ribbons red as blood
All bound around their middles.
The troopers, too, would gallop up
And fire right in our faces
It scared me almost to death
To see them run such races.
Chorus
Uncle Sam came there to change
Some pancakes and some onions
For 'lasses cake to carry home
To give his wife and young ones.
Chorus
But I can't tell half I see
They kept up such a smother
So I took my hat off, made a bow
And scampered home to mother.
Chorus
Cousin Simon grew so bold
I thought he would have cocked it
It scared me so I streaked it off
And hung by father's pocket.
Chorus
And there I saw a pumpkin shell
As big as mother's basin
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.
Other Verses:
And there was Captain Washington,
With gentlefolks about him,
They say he's gown so 'tarnal proud
He will not ride without them.
Chorus
There came Gen'ral Washington
Upon a snow-white charger
He looked as big as all outdoors
And thought that he was larger.
Chorus
Translation and explanation
The term ' Yankee ' is originally a descriptive term used by the southerners for a northerner. It probably has its origin in the first names Jan and Kees, which were common among Dutch immigrants in New York.
Generally speaking, it stands for a US resident who was born there and who, due to the harsh, predominantly agricultural life, seldom served in the army in neat uniforms. The "doodle" can be translated as booby (or dödel), as these people often could not read or write and were also quite uneducated. This song is about precisely this idiot's efforts to be chic and sophisticated like a European.
Yankee Doodle went to town - a visit to the city is always an adventure for the booby, even if the city is, legally speaking, just a village.
A'riding on a pony - this A 'comes from the Gaelic verb form as it is still to be found in the dialect of the Scots, for example. The farmer did not have one of the few horses that were usually reserved for generals, but a strong (work) horse, which is mocked here with the name pony.
Stuck a feather in his hat - the feather on the hat as a supposed expression of a very special fashion awareness of the idiot.
And called it macaroni - Macaroni refers to a certain form of fashion craziness in England between 1760 and 1780, who boasted of their cosmopolitanism, travel experience and sense of style. The song should show that a feather on the hat is already extravagant for the booby.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up, - Yankee Doodle, keep it up !
Yankee Doodle dandy, - (dandy = dude, imaginary peacock)
Mind the music and the step, - think of the music and the steps (sequence) (the dances of the Americans were much more rustic; he should be careful not to get confused)
And with the girls be handy! - and be clever with the girls! (You didn't trust the stupid Yankee booby with subtle behavior)
Computer virus
A computer virus that was first isolated in September 1989 was named "Yankee Doodle" . It is a memory-resident MS-DOS virus that at 17 o'clock the refrain of Yankee Doodle song about the daily system speaker plays.
Trivia
In the film One, Two, Three , a cuckoo clock , which contains a Uncle Sam instead of a cuckoo , guides through the events with the melody of Yankee Doodle at an ever faster pace.
