'Yankee Doodle' Was One of America's Earliest Protest Songs. But Its Origins Are Shrouded in Mystery

"In the fall of 1781, American soldiers clashed with the British during a three-week battle in Yorktown, Virginia. Aided by French allies, the Continental Army outnumbered and outfought the British troops. As the British marched out to surrender after this final battle of the American Revolution, they reportedly refused to look at the Continental soldiers, instead facing only the French."

"According to legend, the famous French general the Marquis de Lafayette wouldn't stand for this insubordination. He ordered the Continental fife and drum corps to play " Yankee Doodle," a song that the British had originally used to mock American colonists. That day, the tune took on new resonance as both an act of defiance and a display of victory against the patriots' adversaries. The British soldiers solemnly acknowledged the Continental Army, admitting to their defeat-or so the ( possibly apocryphal) story goes."

""In almost every case of 'Yankee Doodle,' the song is used in a form of attack or derision," says David Hildebrand, an American musicologist at Johns Hopkins University. Considered a type of parody or " diss track" intended to insult others, the melody of "Yankee Doodle" is also one of America's earliest known protest songs: musical compositions with or without lyrics that highlight political or social issues, challenge established systems, and unite movements."

Many popular origin theories about 'Yankee Doodle' have been debunked, yet the tune endures as a patriotic anthem. At the 1781 Yorktown surrender, Continental and French forces confronted British troops that reportedly refused to face American soldiers. Legend holds that the Marquis de Lafayette ordered the Continental fife and drum corps to play 'Yankee Doodle,' transforming the melody into an act of defiance and victory. The tune functioned as parody and insult, serving as one of America's earliest protest songs and a folk song that emerged organically from popular use. Early printed lyrics with words like "pony," "feather," and "macaroni" appear in an 1842 English collection.

Read at Smithsonian Magazine