COLONIAL AND PATRIOTIC MUSIC.
The colonial music was mostly borrowed and adapted to the occasion. The Pilgrims had more important duties to perform and in those years of stirring events no one was in a mood to write music.
The first song to be used was that old and familiar one, “Yankee Doodle.” It made a powerful rallying cry in calling to arms against England. It is so old that it is impossible to decide just where the term came from.
It has been traced back to Greece—“Iankhe Doule,” meaning “Rejoice, O Slave,” and to the Chinese—“Yong Kee,” meaning “Flag of the Ocean.” It is said the Persians called Americans “Yanki Doon’iah,” “Inhabitants of the New World.” The Indians too, come in for their share of the credit of originating the term, as the Cherokee word “Eankke,” which means “coward” and “slave,” was often bestowed upon the inhabitants of New England.
At the time of the uprising against Charles the First, Oliver Cromwell rode into Oxford, on an insignificant little horse, wearing a single plume in a knot called a “macaroni.” The song was sung derisively by the cavaliers at that time. The tune is said to have come from Spain or France, there being several versions of the words.
It came into play when our ancestors flocked into Ticonderoga in answer to the call of Abercrombie. At that early day no one refused, but all answered the call and came equipped as best they could, but hardly any two alike, and to the trained English regulars must have presented a ridiculous appearance. Dr. Shamburg changed the words of the old satire to fit the new occasion. But in less than a year it was turned by the Yankees against the English in the form of a rallying cry and possessed new meaning.
History had emphasized it, and with the accompaniment of the shrill pipe and half worn drum calling the simple cottagers together, it must have aroused all their noble and sturdy patriotism.
Who that has viewed that stirring picture in the Corcoran Art Gallery at Washington, “Yankee Doodle,” could fail to catch the inspiration of the scene. The old man with his thin grey locks, but head erect and face glowing with enthusiasm as he keeps time to the old tune, followed by the small boy with his drum. One scarcely knows whether humor or pathos predominates: but certain we are that all alike stepped to its chords; it found an answering echo in each heart and led them on to glory.