I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy!

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"life lessons", America, Bob Hope, character training, fun, Human nature, Jimmy Cagney, Military appreciation, movies, patriotic songs, songs, spiritual, Yankee Doodle Dandy

Various European countries claim the original of the tune we know as Yankee Doodle, and it was the British who brought the tune to America during the French and Indian Wars. The opening words of the song refer to the fact that when Oliver Cromwell rode horseback into Oxford in 1653 he wore a hat decorated with a single feather fastened by an elaborate knot — an Italian decoration called a “macaroni.” The British troops used the song and the term sarcastically, to ridicule the makeshift appearance of the dress of American Colonial troops. When the Revolution began, the Americans adopted the song as a rallying tune, and it was played by fifers and drummers in every camp and battle. At the British surrender at Yorktown on Oct. 19, 1781, the American army band played Yankee Doodle to celebrate the American victory.

Looking for a great inspirational & fun movie for family movie night? Check out Jimmy Cagney in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942) The story of George M Cohan, composer of “Over There, “The Grand Old Flag,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

YANKEE DOODLE LYRICS

Yankee Doodle went to town,
A-riding on a pony,
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni.

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

Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Goodin’,
And there we see the men and boys
As thick as hasty puddin’.

(CHORUS)

And there was Gen’ral Washington,
Upon a slapping stallion,
A-giving orders to his men-
I guess there was a million.

(CHORUS)

A long war then was fought and won:
The British were defeated,
And Yankee Doodle was the march
To which their troops retreated.

(CHORUS)

I’m Proud to be A Flag-Waving Yankee Doodle Dandy

Now for a real treat!

My Country, Tis of Thee

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America, appreciation, conservative, gratitude, liberal, lyrics, patriotic songs, spiritual

“Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” in 1831, while a student at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. His friend Lowell Mason, had asked him to translate the lyrics in some German school songbooks or to write new lyrics. Rather than translating the lyrics from German, Smith wrote his own American patriotic hymn to the melody completing the lyrics in thirty minutes. Smith gave Mason the lyrics he had written and the song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831, at a children’s Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston. First publication of ‘America” was in 1832.” (Wikipedia)

Full Lyrics from http://www.usa-flag-site.org/:

My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet Freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King.

Our glorious Land to-day,
‘Neath Education’s sway,
Soars upward still.
Its hills of learning fair,
Whose bounties all may share,
behold them everywhere
On vale and hill!

Thy safeguard, Liberty,
The school shall ever be,
Our Nation’s pride!
No tyrant hand shall smite,
While with encircling might
All here are taught the Right
With Truth allied.

Beneath Heaven’s gracious will
The stars of progress still
Our course do sway;
In unity sublime
To broader heights we climb,
Triumphant over Time,
God speeds our way!

Grand birthright of our sires,
Our altars and our fires
Keep we still pure!
Our starry flag unfurled,
The hope of all the world,
In peace and light impearled,
God hold secure!

From the album “Battle Cry of Freedom,” this is the full version performed by the Robert Shaw Chorale. In indelible part of our American heritage. How abundant our heritage is!

“Battle Hymn of the Republic” – Our Battle Cry

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"life lessons", America, American history, American Interests, Civil War, history, Julia Ward Howe, patriotic songs

“Julia Ward Howe is best known as the author of the famous poem “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Set to the tune of John Brown‘s Body in 1861, this song became an anthem for the American Civil War and made Julia Ward Howe one of the most recognized figures in America.” Continue reading

“Among her many contributions to American society is her famous “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which has become a national anthem of sorts. She was also co-editor and writer for The Woman’s Journal, which lobbied for suffrage and human rights. She was instrumental in creating Mother’s Day, which she envisioned as a day of solemn council where women from all over the world could meet to discuss the means whereby to achieve world peace. They would also convene as mothers, keeping in mind the duty of protecting their children. She became the first woman elected to the Society of Arts and Letters, and the biography of her, written by her children, won the Pulitzer Prize.” Continue reading about Julia Ward Howe

“In spite of the excitement of the day I went to bed and slept as usual, but awoke the next morning in the gray of the early dawn, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, I shall lose this if I don’t write it down immediately. I searched for an old sheet of paper and an old stub of a pen which I had had the night before, and began to scrawl the lines almost without looking, as I learned to do by often scratching down verses in the darkened room when my little children were sleeping. Having completed this, I lay down again and fell asleep, but not before feeling that something of importance had happened to me.” Continue reading about the creation of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
(Chorus)
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”
(Chorus)
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
(Chorus)
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
(Chorus)

Pretty “heavy” lyrics … Can you honestly sing along?