'This bumper I crown for our sovereign's health:
And this for Britannia's glory and wealth.
That wealth and that glory immortal may be
If she is but just and we are but free.'
But after 1770 a new version appeared:
'Come swallow your bumpers, ye Tories and roar,
That the sons of fair freedom are hampered once more,
But know that no cut-throats our spirits can tame,
Nor a host of oppressors shall smother the flame.'
After the storm thus foreboded broke loose, the 'Liberty Song' hardly sufficed to express people's feelings, but there was nothing to take its place. To be sure, in William Billings' 'Singing Master's Assistant' there were printed two war songs that became very popular, especially the one for which Billings himself composed the words and set them to his favorite tune, 'Chester':
'Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And slavery clank her galling chains,
We'll fear them not, we'll trust in God;
New England's God forever reigns,' etc., etc.
'The enthusiasm with which Billings sang and taught these songs communicated itself to the people, even to those who in the prejudice of their time had strenuously opposed singing in the churches, but no one could doubt the composer's sincere patriotism.'[81] Then there were some stanzas, set to an old Scotch tune and sung by the Pennsylvania regiments during the Revolution, and a convivial soldiers' song, 'The Volunteer Boys,' that was composed by Henry Archer, an Englishman, in 1778, and widely sung. But the one revolutionary tune that has survived was, strange enough, originally a song of derision aimed at the American troops by the British. That tune is 'Yankee Doodle.' 'Yankee,' the term still applied to Americans in general by Europeans, but by Americans to New Englanders in particular, has a doubtful etymology. There is an Indian word 'yankoos,' which means invincible, and a Cherokee word, 'eankke,' signifying coward or slave; 'kanokie,' or silent man, was the name applied to Connecticut settlers by the natives—according to 'Diedrich Knickerbocker'—and, finally, there is 'yengeese,' an Indian corruption of 'English'—all possible roots of the word. There are other plausible derivations, including one from the Norwegian and others from the Scotch. The word 'doodle,' too, has a Scotch meaning—'dudeln,' to play music. For the origin of the combination 'Yankee Doodle,' there are, as Mr. Sonneck puts it, 'whole genealogies of theories.' Probably the words were not used before 1700. The first known mention of the song so entitled is in a letter of April 26, 1776, in which it is called 'a song composed in derision of New Englanders, scornfully called Yankees.'
Many theories there are also regarding the origin of the tune. Most of them, including the well-known story of a British officer having composed it during the Revolution, are impossible, while the claim of Dr. Richard Schuchburgh[82] as its composer (at Albany in 1755) is very doubtful. It is said to have been played by a fife-major of the Grenadier Guards in 1750 as a march, and a tune at least similar to it is supposed to have been familiar to the English peasantry previous to the time of Charles I. Whatever its origin, it was played by the Americans at Burgoyne's surrender (Saratoga, 1777) and again at the surrender of Yorktown, at the instance of Lafayette, who probably intended it as a taunt. It was recognized officially as an American national song at the signing of the treaty of Ghent (1814), when the Flemish burghers serenaded the American ambassadors with the tune, having learned it from Henry Clay's servant!
'America,' sung to the same tune as 'God Save the King'—a tune that has been variously appropriated by other nations—had its American origin in the Park Street Church, Boston, the words being written for a children's celebration held on July 4, 1832, by the Rev. Samuel F. Smith, a young theological student. Before this, however, the tune had done service at different times for 'God Save America,' 'God Save George Washington,' and what not. The origin of the melody, like that of many other good tunes, is shrouded in mystery. It is generally attributed to Dr. John Bull (b. 1563), who is supposed to have written it for a banquet given to James I in 1607. But Mr. Sonneck remarks that 'with such arguments [as Mr. Elson's comparisons] the main theme of the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony would become very close to being inspired by 'Yankee Doodle.'[83] After citing many theories Mr. Elson remarks that 'there seems, however, scarcely a doubt that Henry Carey, the composer of "Sally in Our Alley," the unfortunate genius who commited suicide after a blameless life of eighty years, with a single half-penny in his pocket [in the year 1740], was the author and composer of the great anthem.'
Joseph Hopkinson (1770-1842), in a letter of August 24, 1840, throws light on the origin of 'Hail Columbia,' another popular American patriotic song. It was, according to him, originally a political song rather than a national one. The tune is that of the old 'President's March,' a leading work in the early American répertoire, composed, some say, by Johannes Roth, a German musician of Philadelphia, popularly known as 'Old Roth,' in 1689, but more probably by a certain Pheil, to whom it is attributed in a copy of the year 1793, in the possession of the Library of Congress.[84] In 1798 Hopkinson wrote new words for it, which were a glorification of President Adams and Federalism. Sung by Hopkinson's friend, Gilbert Fox, an actor, at a benefit performance, it roused great enthusiasm and the audience joined in the chorus. But the 'Aurora' of April 27,1798, called it 'a most ridiculous bombast and the vilest adulation of the Anglo-monarchical party.' Since its use as a Federal song 'Hail Columbia' has undergone a considerable process of polishing, but its erstwhile popularity has not by any means worn off.
'The Star Spangled Banner,' because of its exclusive use and its inherent musical strength universally recognized as the 'National Anthem' of America, is, like its brothers, an imported article. The tune is that of an old English drinking song, 'To Anacreon in Heaven,' written by the president of the Anacreontic Society in London about 1770-75. The music is, in all likelihood, by John Stafford Smith (1750-1836), also a member of the society and author of the Musica Antiqua (1832). Its American use dates from 1798, when Robert Treat Paine, whose real name was Thomas Paine, but who objected to being confused with the 'atheist' Paine, adopted it to words of his own, under the title of 'Adams and Liberty, the Boston Patriotic Song.' Other versions, such as 'Jefferson and Liberty,' appeared for various occasions, one even to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon! But the real version, the one we know to-day, was born during the War of 1812 under conditions which fire the patriot's imagination.