|
Tunes4Two
|
The Yankee Song
|
Double Songs
|
Work
The new song We Are American, defining the difference between English and American, acts as counter-melody to the ever-popular Yankee Doodle, with its chorus and numerous verses.
Many legends are attached to our national songs. Nunerous conflicting stories are told about "Yankee Doodle". There is one
fact, however, that is known to be true. The song was used by the British to make fun of the Yankees. Later, during the Revolutionary
War, the Yankees adopted it as their own song.
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. (by Richard Shuckburgh)
Lyrics
|
Verse 1
Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni.
|
Verse 6
There I saw a swamping gun,
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a mighty little cart;
A load for father's cattle.
|
|
Chorus
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy.
|
Verse 7
Every time they fired it off,
It took a horn of powder;
It made a noise like fathers's gun
Only a nation louder.
|
|
Verse 2
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.
|
Verse 8
There I saw a little keg,
Its head all made of leather,
They knocked upon't with little sticks
To call the folks together.
|
|
Verse 3
There we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David;
And what they wasted ev'ry day
I wish it could be saved.
|
Verse 9
Troopers, too, would gallop up
And fire right in our faces;
It scared me almost half to death
To see them run such races.
|
|
Verse 4
There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion
A-giving orders to his men
I guess there was a million.
|
Verse 10
Scared I was and hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother's chamber.
|
|
Verse 5
Then the feathers on his head
They looked so very fine, ah!
I wanted peskily to get
To give to my Jemina.
|
|
Performance
Always start by establishing the Footsies at Level 0.
In this case, both songs are at the same level and will start on L(eft foot),
0+3for We Are American and 0+4 for Yankee Doodle.
Beat R, L, R before you start singing.
Sing Yankee Doodle followed by We Are American and make a loop of the 2 songs,
leaving no "space" between them.
The children, in unison, will gradually join you.
Then you divide the participants in 2 equal groups,
start the first group singing Yankee Doodle, and when they reach We Are American,
start the second group singing Yankee Doodle.
This produces the polyphony of the 2 simultaneous songs,
and the loops in both groups allow you to keep it going as long as required.
Routine
|
