"Yankee Doodle" practically started out as a playground song - popular with both sides of the American Revolution, early versions had all sorts of references to violence and farting (see The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History). Soldiers added new parody verses all the time, and kids are still doing it. The one I remember best from the 80s demonstrates a sort of charming ignorance about the birds and the bees:
Yankee Doodle went to town
riding on a lady
stuck a feather up her butt
and then she had a baby
I'm sure that other variations corrected the body part to make it that much closer to accurate. Indeed, it's very similar to one Iona Opie collected in the UK in the late 70s:
Yankee doodle went to town
riding on a pony
puller 'er tit
she had a shit
and then she had a baby
ANother that goes around:
Yankee doodle went to town
riding on a turtle
hit a hump and skinned his rump
and landed in a garbage dump.
My favorite 1770s verse written by the British soldiers (presumably):
Dolly Bushel let a fart,
Jenny Jones, she found it,
Ambrose carried it to the mill,
Where Doctor Warren ground it.
Which versions did YOU know?
Don't know when/where I thought/heard of this:
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle went to town,
riding on a heater,
accidentally turned it on,
and barbecued his wiener.
My friend told me this one...
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle went to town
riding on his mother
every time they hit a bump
he got another brother
What did i leav!
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle went to space
ReplyDeleteriding on a rocket
landed on an astronaut
and pissed on Davy Crocket
I heard this from my brother in nebraska 2010:yankee doodle went to town riding on a rocket stuck his finger up his butt and called it hersheys chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI heard this same version in Maryland at my elementary school around 2000
DeleteMy seven year old son came home from church this afternoon (Newton Mass. 9/11/2011, though basically we're visiting here from Toronto, Canada for a few months) singing the following. He told me he had made this up this morning:
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle hates his town,
And he needs a pony.
He has a dog and hates his frog,
And loves his macaroni!
I suppose that's how these things get invented -- 7 year old jesters-in-the-making!
yankee doodle went to town riding on a turtle turned the corner just in time to see a ladys gurtle
ReplyDeleteYankee doodle went to to town
ReplyDeleteRiding on a TV
Accidently turned it on
And saw a naked lady!
(ie, "Ottawa, 1998)
THERR IS ALSO (I HAVE 2)
ReplyDelete1. YANKEE DOODLE WENT TO TOWN
RIDING ON A HEATER
HE TURNED IT UP TO 95
AND BURNT HIS LITTLE WIENER
2. YANKEE DOODLE WENT TO TOWN
RIDING ON A ROCKET
HE STUCK HIS FINGER UP HIS BUTT
AND CALLED IT HERSHEY CHOCOLATE
Yankee doodle went to town riding on a train stuck a needle up his butt and cald it chocolate rain
ReplyDeleteGuess I just had a clean version that makes absolutely no sense
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni
That was on Long Island in the mid 1970's
I <3 yankee doodle songs they aré awesome
Deleteby the way
mw3 me and my friend isabella hurd made it up
That's just British making fun of colonists in the late 1770's, I think.
DeleteWell, the actual version was hat instead of cap though.
So the colonists were not supplied well as the British were back then. "macaroni" is what they said when a person was flattering in his/her fashion, so British are saying the colonist's best outfit is feather stuck on their cap.
Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a owl,yankee doodle hit a bump & lost his freakin towel !
ReplyDeleteYankee doodle went to town riding on a loser,made it to ocmd and got his own set of hooters!!
ReplyDeleteYankee doodle went to town
ReplyDeleteRiding on a girl
She stuck his dick in her mouth
And now she wants to hurl
yankee doodle went to town riding on a pickaxe everytime he mined some stone he wouldsay oh i call my self eat some s***
ReplyDeleteyankee doodle went to town riding on a xbox everytime time he got the red rings of death he would kill hisself oh my!
ReplyDeleteI remember a very racy version from Michigan recess in the sixties
ReplyDeleteyankee doodle went to london just to ride the queenie
stuck his finger in her twat and then he used his weenie...
Yankee Doodle went to town
ReplyDeleteRiding on his mother
Ev'ry time he hit a bump
He got a brand new brother
Yankee Doodle went to town
ReplyDeleteA dying on a pony
stuck a lit match in his cap
and shot his macaroni
Yankee doodle went to town ridding on man stuck his finger up his butt and called him uncle Sam.
ReplyDeleteIthaca, NY circa 1970:
ReplyDeleteYankee Doodle went to town riding in a stagecoach,
Hit a bump
And skinned his rump
and landed in the city dump
Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a turtle
ReplyDeleteRode into the ladies shop and came out with a girdle
Or
Turned the corner just in time to see a lady's girdle.
NJ 1980s
Rafffy Conti went to Queens riding on the E train.
ReplyDeleteHe put some noodles in a dish and said it looked like Lo Mein.
Raffy Conti got called Ralph and then he got called Randy.
All the girls in East Elmhurst are sweet as a chocolate candy.