Yankee Doodle

Did you ever wonder what the hell this song means?
Yankee Doodle came to town
A-riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni

As pointed out to me by James, there are several versions wherein Mr. Doodle "rode to town," "came to town," and "went to town," but we won't get caught up in that here.

Some people think it was written especially for Benjamin Franklin when he was in England prior to the Revolution. Ben was there trying to mediate between the British and the Americans over the issues that had arisen since the “Boston Tea Party” and the infamous “Stamp Act.”

In the1770’s a Yankee was generally an American from “New England” and New England was the northeast area of the country in what is now the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Benjamin was from Boston MA, before he transplanted to Pennsylvania.

Doodle is thought to derive from the Low German word dudel, meaning “fool” or “simpleton.” Therefore, a Yankee Doodle is a New England simpleton and it only follows that those London aristocrats were referring to Benjamin as a Yankee simpleton!

Coming to town was meant to imply that Ben was emerging from the backwoods of the American Colonies and trying to adopt the “airs” of the London elite. The pony was an upgrade from the plow horses that were prevalent in the colonies. Kind of like trading up from a tractor to a towncar.

The feather was an adornment of the “macaroni” fashion style of late 18th century London, and “macaroni” was an Italian word meaning extravagantly overdone or overdressed. The cap was a reference to Ben's gaudy beaver skin cap.  Everybody who has read about Ben Franklin knows that he always wore his beaver skin cap wherever he went, even to the court of King Louis XV of France!

So, basically, the British were making fun of Ben Franklin for pretending to be an equal to the London aristocrats simply by improving his mode of transportation and adopting a modicum of London contemporary style. All this didn't matter much since, by this time, Ben had suffered a “dressing down” by the house of commons and his humiliation in the hands of the British had been complete. His diplomatic efforts having been a complete failure, and the Revolution having begun with fighting at Lexington and Concord, Ben returned home.