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"Father And I Went Down To Camp""-
The Boston Yankee Doodle Ballad
The tune now known as 'Yankee Doodle"
is shrouded in mystery.How and when it was written?
It has been claimed by many places at different times,
including such countries as England and Holland.
But the author of the words as the song relates to
Boston history during the time of
the American Revolution has been identified.
The Boston Ballad
First verse with Chorus
Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we see the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.Chorus:
Yankey doodle keep it up,
Yankey doodle dandy;
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.
These opening words are the beginning of one ofthe earliest known versions and written during the American Revolution.
The song known as "Yankee Doodle" has been shrouded in legends for
several centuries and it is difficult to determine which versions are authentic.
Perhaps the most common legend is that a British Dr. Richard Shuckburghwrote a ballad text to the "Yankee Doodle" tune to poke fun at
New Englanders (or Yankees)who had served in the French and Indian War in Canada
He was not very kind to the New Englanders or "Yankees"
as they were then known.
As mentioned in David Hackett Fischer's extensive discussion on
"Yankee Doodle" in Liberty and Freedom, there are conflicting documents that
support this claim though he assumes
that Dr. Richard Shuckburgh wrote the words
including an nasty reference
to Dr. Joseph Warren, who wrote the words to
"The New Massachusetts of Liberty" in 1770.
But which version of the ballad did he write?
Are there any documents that can prove that "Yankee Doodle"
was written down?
Yes, there are several.
One of these documents is sheet music published in London,
titled: "YANKEE DOODLE, or
(as now christened by the Saints of New England),THE LEXINGTON MARCH."
This is undated but must have been printed after
the battles at Lexington and Concord in 1775.
This version was meant to ridicule the "Yankees"
and the words are raw and humiliating,
This song has been credited to Dr. Schuckburgh..
Here is the first verse:Brother Ephraim sold his Cow and bought him a Commission,
And then he went to Canada to Fight for the Nation;
But when Ephraim he came home he proved an arrant Coward,
He wouldn't fight the Frenchmen there for fear of being devour 'd.
But the most important document is a broadside sheet probably printed
in or near Boston with fifteen verses of text.
In his fascinating though flawed book,
America's Song: The Story of 'Yankee Doodle,' Stuart Murray mistakenly claims
this Boston version of "Yankee Doodle" as being written by Dr. Shuckburgh.
That is incorrect. This Boston ballad has this heading:
The Farmer and his Son's
return from a visit to the CAMPIn her excellent book, Music for Patriots, Politicians and Presidents (1975),
Vera Brodsky Lawrence wrote this about the ballad:
Attributed to Edward Bangs. a sophomore at Harvard who had
served at Lexington as a minuteman, these words --with slight
variations -- were often reprinted during the later eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries.The broadside, probably dating from 1775 or 1776,
is the earliest known printing of this version.
Here are five of the fifteen verses of this ballad:
Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we see the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.Chorus:
Yankey doodle keep it up,
Yankey doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.And there we see a thousand men,
As rich as 'squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it had been saved.Chorus:
Yankee doodle etc.And there was Captain Washington [not George Washington]
And gentle folks about him,
They say he's grown so tarnal proud,
He will not ride without them.Chorus:
Yankee doodle etc.And there we see a swamping gun,
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a deucid little cart,
A load for father's cattle.Chorus:
Yankee doodle etc.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:
Yankee doodle etc.
macaroni.
According to James J. Fuld's The Book of World Famous Music,
the earliest known printing of the best known words
to "Yankee Doodle" relating to
"pony," "feather in his cap," and "macaroni"
are in James Orchard Halliwell's,
The Nursery Rhymes of England (London, 1842).
So that is NOT the original text.
Later in the 19th century, this ballad was printed
in Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes as
"Yankee's Return From Camp (Yankee Doodle Dandy)"
and the chorus was slightly different:
Yankee doodle keep it up,
Yankee doodle dandy,
Beneath the fig tree and the vine,
Sing Yankee doodle dandy.
Though it may not be the best known
version today, the Boston Yankee Doodle ballad,by Harvard College student, Edward Bangs (1758-1818),
was the best known version during the American Revolution.
One day, he wrote a simple ballad about a
farmer and his son as they "went down to camp"which was printed on a broadside sheet
and distributed around the Boston area and elsewhere.
Now Edward Bangs and his patriotic ballad
are part of American musical history
and his chorus says in jovial jest:
"Mind the music and the step
And the girls be handy."
--by Roger Lee Hall
Director of the Center for American Music Preservation (CAMP)
"Yankee Doodle"
as arranged by William Arms Fisher
in the collection,
THE MUSIC THAT WASHINGTON KNEW (1931)was performed by the chorus of the
The Old Stoughton Musical SocietyAmerica's oldest choral society
founded in 1786
That recording is included on
this special 250th anniversary publication...
1. THE LIBERTY SONG -
John Dickinson ,17682. The New MASSACHUSETTS Liberty Song -
Dr. Joseph Warren,17703. FATHER AND I
WENT DOWN TO CAMP
(Yankee Doodle) -
Edward Bangs, ca. 17764. CHESTER
William Billings, 1778
New words by
Philip Doddridge, 1786
The References
Help support the educational mission of the
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"Yankee Doodle" - An American Song Treasury, 1620-1920
AMRC CD 0009
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