# Yankee Doodle lyrics



## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

At my daughter's school, they sing "and with the kids be funny" instead of "and with the girls be handy" because the original lyrics are considered too mature.

It's certainly a mature thought but when I was a kid the precise meaning just sailed over my head, and I don't like changing historical lyrics like that.

What do others think about this?


----------



## reezley (May 27, 2006)

The big problem with your school's lyrics is that they don't rhyme!









We got a kiddie CD from the library and the lyrics for that line in the song was something about all the kids are "eating sugar can-dy!" The new lyric is so over-the-top sweet (literally) that it's funny. Anyway, I'm with you - I don't see a problem with lyrics that kids don't understand anyway.


----------



## dubfam (Nov 4, 2005)

I completely agree with you, Mamazee

It wasn't until a few months ago, when I was singing that song for my 6 year old, that I even noticed that line, or stopped to think about it. I was kinda like,







at first because I couldn't believe I had never noticed it. It helped me remember just how much stuff goes right over my son's head.


----------



## Super Glue Mommy (Jan 4, 2009)

i like when they reword these kinds of things... but not when it doesnt rhyme anymore! i like the candy rhyme, I was going to suggest that! some nursery rhymes really could use a make over - but I do agree that it's usually over the kids heads anyway.


----------



## aprons_and_acorns (Sep 28, 2004)

I agree with you, I tend to like the original versions of songs generally. I'm sure the teacher was just trying to avoid offending anyone. I remember learning a new verse of Yankee Doodle every Friday in kindergarten. There was lots of stuff in there about guns, smoking, you know, the usual kindergarten stuff







I'm sure they could never get away with that today.

We also sang Georgie Porgie, The Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe, Pay Me My Money Down, and several other songs with lyrics that have probably been "spruced up" a little by today's music directors.


----------



## crazydiamond (May 31, 2005)

I normally don't change lyrics either and if DD had learned it the original way, I'd have just gone with that. She'd probably have thought it meant something else, anyway, and when she was old enough to figure it out it wouldn't have been a big deal anyway. But, the children's CD we have says "girls are sweet as sugar candy" so we just go with that.


----------



## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

Seriously? They're worried about the appropriateness of Yankee Doodle? Of all the things to make an issue of . . .







:

Besides, "and with the kids be funny" doesn't make sense. Sounds a little weird.


----------



## Mama2Bug (Feb 18, 2005)

You know, I always thought "and with the girls be handy" to mean being readily helpful- like politely pulling out a chair and things like that.

Clearly I am naive.









I wonder though, if lots of kids don't think the same thing. I mean, the common usage of "handy" is convenient, easy-to-use or close at hand.


----------



## Tera_&_Gibson (Dec 11, 2006)

What its not "and called it Macaroni"? I always thought that was weird but how I have always known it! LOL!


----------



## Smalls181 (May 12, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama2Bug* 
You know, I always thought "and with the girls be handy" to mean being readily helpful- like politely pulling out a chair and things like that.

Clearly I am naive.









I wonder though, if lots of kids don't think the same thing. I mean, the common usage of "handy" is convenient, easy-to-use or close at hand.

I am on the same page as you, here. Actually, I feel like I have to really be reaching to find an inappropriate meaning to that phrase. It just, never crossed my mind!


----------



## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tera_&_Gibson* 
What its not "and called it Macaroni"? I always thought that was weird but how I have always known it! LOL!

Hmmmmmmmmmm (imagine me humming)

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


----------



## Theoretica (Feb 2, 2008)

Macaroni was used to mean 'cool'


----------



## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Theoretica* 
Macaroni was used to mean 'cool'









Yeah I read about this once and it was from when British people used to travel to Italy, and the Italian men wore really fancy clothes at that time, and the British young men would come home and dress in that same manner, and it was called Macaroni.


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama2Bug* 
You know, I always thought "and with the girls be handy" to mean being readily helpful- like politely pulling out a chair and things like that.

Clearly I am naive.









I wonder though, if lots of kids don't think the same thing. I mean, the common usage of "handy" is convenient, easy-to-use or close at hand.









: I think they're making something of nothing.


----------



## paquerette (Oct 16, 2004)

I think that's silly. If I was a little kid and was thinking about it in that much depth, I'd probably think it meant to do fixer upper chores for girls, like "handyman". If you want to court a girl fix her screen door or change her oil or something. Kinda sexist but not dreadful.

Actually, does anyone want to court me? My screen door has been broken since last year.


----------



## birdie22 (Apr 1, 2005)

I thought it was about dancing... "mind the music and the step and with the girls be handy," as in, when you're dancing the quadrille or whatever, make sure that you're in place when it's your turn to step up and offer your hand.

I don't mind updating offensive song lyrics, but there ought to be a really good reason. "What do you do with a drunken sailor" comes to mind. And it really needs to be cleverly done, and worthy of the original.


----------



## chinaKat (Aug 6, 2005)

Heh, when we sing that song at home I always kinda peter out on the last line, just because it's a strange turn of phrase that never really made sense to me. I never thought it sounded dirty, though...


----------



## hummingmom (Apr 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *paquerette* 
I think that's silly. If I was a little kid and was thinking about it in that much depth, I'd probably think it meant to do fixer upper chores for girls, like "handyman".

DH and I had a conversation about this a while ago, and we both thought the same thing as you.

Of course, guess what's going through my head now: the James Taylor version of "I'm Your Handyman". I don't think he'd be too interested in fixing anyone's screen doors, though.


----------



## momo7 (Apr 10, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ledzepplon* 
Seriously? They're worried about the appropriateness of Yankee Doodle? Of all the things to make an issue of . . .







:

Besides, "and with the kids be funny" doesn't make sense. Sounds a little weird.


I agree....no kidding.....


----------



## Theoretica (Feb 2, 2008)

ITA, I kinda think it makes ol' Yankee Doodle sound a smidge on the pervy side....blech!


----------



## OkiMom (Nov 21, 2007)

When I was younger I thought it meant not to step on any of the girls toes while dancing.. Then I got older and I thought it meant to help the girls out. Ive never thought of an offensive way of interpreting the song, till now.


----------



## newbymom05 (Aug 13, 2005)

I agree w/ those who think it should remain the same (plus I always thought "handyman" too). I thought one reason to teach a song like YD was because it's part of our cultural heritage, so why change it?


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *paquerette* 
Actually, does anyone want to court me? My screen door has been broken since last year.


----------



## mamazee (Jan 5, 2003)

ROFL.

Now that I've ruined the song for everyone!!

Here's another one. My daughter is in this group and this past Christmas they sang Joy to the World, but they took out any religious reference, which made the song really awkward. "Joy to the world, the light has come". I don't remember all the lyrics. This is not specifically a non-religious group, it's just a musical group, but it is a diverse group, and I think they were trying to be inclusive.

It was really awkward and my thought was if they didn't want religious language they should have just chosen a different song.


----------



## EnviroBecca (Jun 5, 2002)

I agree, if you're offended by the song choose a different song, or at least make a modification that RHYMES! Like when we sang "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog" in my elementary school, we sang about how we always had a mighty fine time instead of how he always had some mighty fine wine.

You reminded me of when I was 7 or 8 and at my best friend's house, and her dad got us to calm down by saying that if we did he would teach us a Dirty Song. Oh boy!! The song was:

Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a turtle.
Turned the corner just in time to see a lady's girdle.

He waited for our shocked giggles. We looked blankly at him and asked, "What's a girdle??"








(He was kind of an old dad...must have been our age circa 1940 when girdles were common!)


----------



## moondiapers (Apr 14, 2002)

Yankee Doodle went to town 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 let the boys be handy*

this is how my song book from when I was a child has it written


----------



## Daffodil (Aug 30, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hummingmom* 
Of course, guess what's going through my head now: the James Taylor version of "I'm Your Handyman".

You know, I could have sworn that song went:

I'm not the kind to use a pencil or rule
I'm handy with a different tool

Is there some different version that goes like that, or did I just make it up?


----------



## jennifercp8 (Nov 10, 2005)

I thought the Macaroni thing was supposed to quite derogatory, actually. I saw on a history show that the Macaroni Club in England was a gay-bar (essentially) and that this song was sung to make the new colonists look like patrons of the Macaroni Club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle

OK - so I stand corrected. Not a "gay bar", but definitely something being made fun of.


----------



## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamazee* 
It was really awkward and my thought was if they didn't want religious language they should have just chosen a different song.

That's how I feel about all this kind of stuff, including Yankee Doodle. If people are that worried about a song being inappropriate or offensive, why use the song at all?


----------



## Kiltie Girl (Feb 3, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *birdie22* 
I thought it was about dancing... "mind the music and the step and with the girls be handy," as in, when you're dancing the quadrille or whatever, make sure that you're in place when it's your turn to step up and offer your hand.

I don't mind updating offensive song lyrics, but there ought to be a really good reason. "What do you do with a drunken sailor" comes to mind. And it really needs to be cleverly done, and worthy of the original.

I teach elementary music and one of the things I hear a lot is that as music teachers (and schools) we are not doing enough to teach the kids "traditional" American music. One of the reasons I feel this happens is because teachers are afraid to teach them due to the language in the songs.

What I do is teach the song as written. Then I talk to the kids about it. We discuss the time period the song was written in and what was happening in the world at that time. We talk about what the words might mean. And then maybe we "re-write" them to make them more appropriate for today.

I don't see a problem teaching even the littlest ones these songs as written, as long as you discuss with them what the words mean and why they are that way.

For what it's worth, when I do "Yankee Doodle" the explaination above about dancing is what I use to explain the line. Sometimes the kids will give their opinions on what they think it means as well...a handyman, or that you are nice to girls, etc.


----------



## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Theoretica* 
Macaroni was used to mean 'cool'









Actually it meant "dandy", not "cool" - they were making fun of the Yankees because the Yankees thought they could become fancy merely by adding a feather to their shabby outfits.

I clearly was naive. I just thought it meant that the girls were standing around waiting to dance! (Common enough scenario, right?)


----------



## ece602 (Feb 10, 2009)

LOL I thought it just meant they were being helpful too


----------



## AbbieB (Mar 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EnviroBecca* 







I agree, if you're offended by the song choose a different song, or at least make a modification that RHYMES! Like when we sang "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog" in my elementary school, we sang about how we always had a mighty fine time instead of how he always had some mighty fine wine.

You reminded me of when I was 7 or 8 and at my best friend's house, and her dad got us to calm down by saying that if we did he would teach us a Dirty Song. Oh boy!! The song was:

Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a turtle.
Turned the corner just in time to see a lady's girdle.

He waited for our shocked giggles. We looked blankly at him and asked, "What's a girdle??"








(He was kind of an old dad...must have been our age circa 1940 when girdles were common!)


laughup

I just went to wikipedia to get the low down on the "real" lyrics and found the above alternative version along with this:

Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a baby
He accidentally turned around and saw a naked lady

My 5.5 year old have been singing it and laughing hysterically.







: (She also knows the "Batman smells" version of jingle bells.)


----------



## frontierpsych (Jun 11, 2006)

"With the girls be handy?!"









*tsk tsk* How DARE you teach them such osbcenities!

When I was a kid, we kept it clean with:

Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a rocket
stuck his finger up his butt
and called it Hershey's chocolate!


----------



## EVC (Jan 29, 2006)

Quote:

You know, I always thought "and with the girls be handy" to mean being readily helpful- like politely pulling out a chair and things like that.
Uh, yeah. I'm 35, married, and have a child and UNTIL SEEING THIS THREAD JUST NOW this is what I thought









Quote:

Actually it meant "dandy", not "cool" - they were making fun of the Yankees because the Yankees thought they could become fancy merely by adding a feather to their shabby outfits.
And this I actually knew!


----------



## AbbieB (Mar 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *frontierpsych* 
"With the girls be handy?!"









*tsk tsk* How DARE you teach them such osbcenities!

When I was a kid, we kept it clean with:

Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a rocket
stuck his finger up his butt
and called it Hershey's chocolate!



























: I think I have regressed back to being 7.

I won't be teaching my 5.5 year old that one...she makes up enough butt jokes already.


----------

