Friday, February 21, 2025

The Story of "Yankee Doodle"

 



One foppish high fashion style of dress that made its way from England to Virginia was the so called“Macaroni”.  One contemporary observer wrote:

 “They indeed make a ridiculous figure, with hats an inch in the brim, that do not cover, but lie upon the head, with about two pounds of fictitious hair, formed into what is called a club, hanging down their shoulders…. Their legs are at times covered with all colours of the rainbow; even flesh-coloured and green silk stockings are not excluded….Such a figure, essenced and perfumed, with a bunch of lace sticking out under (the) chin, puzzles the common passenger….”

In 1774, Virginian James Mercer claimed that items had been stolen from him by a “profound knave” named William Foster Crosby, whom he described as “(dressed) like a Macaroni”

During the Revolution British soldiers sang the ditty “Yankee Doodle” mocking Americans as simpletons who thought if you stuck a feather in your cap you were the embodiment of high fashion.  Americans adopted the song as a song of defiance.  By 1781, “Yankee Doodle” had become a song of national pride.

 

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

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


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