Sing – Yankee Doodle Dandy – Youth Activity Archive

A spirited, historical tune originally intended as an insult that became a proud anthem of American independence.

Lyrics and Music by: Anonymous

Recordings

Lyrics

Chorus
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
and with the girls be handy!

Verses:

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni

Chorus

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

And there was Captain Washington
And gentle folks about him
They say he’s grown so tarnal proud
He will not ride without them.

Chorus

Variations

Chorus:
Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

Verses:

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni’.

Chorus

Fath’r and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.

Chorus

And there we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it could be saved.

Chorus

The ‘lasses they eat it every day,
Would keep a house a winter;
They have so much, that I’ll be bound,
They eat it when they’ve mind ter.

Chorus

And there I see 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,
and makes a noise like father’s gun,
Only a nation louder.

Chorus

I went as nigh to one myself
As ‘Siah’s inderpinning;
And father went as nigh again,
I thought the deuce was in him.

Chorus

Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I shrinked it off
And hung by father’s pocket.

Chorus

And Cap’n Davis had a gun,
He kind of clapt his hand on’t
And stuck a crooked stabbing iron
Upon the little end on’t

Chorus

And there I see a pumpkin shell
As big as mother’s bason,
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.

Chorus

I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked on it with little clubs
And called the folks together.

Chorus

And there was Cap’n Washington,
And gentle folks about him;
They say he’s grown so ‘tarnal proud
He will not ride without em’.

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

I see another snarl of men
A digging graves they told me,
So ‘tarnal long, so ‘tarnal deep,
They ‘tended they should hold me.

Chorus

It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother’s chamber.

Chorus

History

“Yankee Doodle” is a famous example of an insult that backfired, originally intended as a slap in the face to Americans. While its ultimate origins are shrouded in mystery, tradition says that in 1755, during the French and Indian War, a British doctor named Richard Schuckburg penned lyrics to mock his colonial allies. He portrayed the Americans as “rude, crude, and cowardly,” using the term “doodle” to mean a country hick and “dandy” to describe a conceited jerk.

The song’s most famous verse about “macaroni” likely didn’t catch on until the mid-19th century, but the imagery of the feather in the cap was meant to mock “skinny men of the court” who lacked physical agility and were not “soldierly.” During the American Revolution, the colonists turned the song into an act of defiance, singing it back at the British as a song of victory. It eventually became the unofficial anthem of the Continental Army and was reportedly played by order of Lafayette during the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

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Published on April 22, 2026. Author:

Tia Kennard

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