Let Freedom Ring

The song, "Yankee Doodle," is synonymous with the Revolutionary War.  The tune is said to have been brought over by the English soldiers who fought in the French and Indian War.  During the Revolutionary War the British soldiers used a derisive set of lyrics to mock the shabby colonial soldiers.  "Yankee" was a contemptuous nickname the British used for the New Englanders, and "doodle" meant "dope, half-wit, fool."  The Colonial Soldiers responded with their own lyrics that eventually became their battle cry.

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 --

There must have been a million.

Then I saw a swamping gun

As large as logs of maple

Upon a very little cart,

A load for Father's cattle.

Every time they shot it off

It took a horn of powder

And made a noise like father's gun

Only a nation louder.

There I saw a wooden keg

With heads made out of leather;

They knocked upon it with some sticks

To call the folks together.

Then they'd fife away like fun

And play on cornstalk fiddles,

And some had ribbons red as blood

All bound around their middles.

I can't tell you all I saw --

They kept up such a smother.

I took my hat off, made a bow,

And scampered home to mother.

Happy Independence Day, America.  Long may your flag wave as a symbol of freedom.

Source:  "The Annals of America; Volume 2, 1755-1783, Resistance and Revolution," -- Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1976.