The Yankee Doodle Boy

George Cohan, Kenneth Elkinson, 1904

I'm the kid that's all the candy
I'm a Yankee Doodle dandy
I'm glad I am
(So's Uncle Sam)

I'm a real live Yankee Doodle
Made my name and fame and boodle
Just like Mister Doodle did, by riding on a pony
I love to listen to the Dixie strain

I long to see the girl I left behind me
And that ain't a josh
She's a Yankee, by gosh
(Oh, say can you see
Anything about a Yankee that's a phony?)

Chorus
I'm a Yankee Doodle dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle boy

Father's name was Hezikiah
Mother's name was Ann Maria
Yanks through and through
(Red, white and blue)

Father was so Yankee hearted
When the Spanish War was started
He slipped upon his uniform
And hopped up on a pony
My mother's mother was a Yankee true
My father's father was a Yankee too

And that's going some
For the Yankees, by gum
(Oh, say can you see
Anything about my pedigree that's phony). Chorus

Notes

    This is a patriotic song from the Broadway musical "Little Johnny Jones" written by George M. Cohan; the play opened at the Liberty Theater on November 7, 1904. A version of the song was recorded by Cohan's contemporary and fellow Irish-American Billy Murray.

    Eddie Buzzell sang "Yankee Doodle Boy" in the 1929 motion-picture adaptation of "Little Johnny Jones." Jimmy Cagney played the role of George M. Cohan and sang "Yankee Doodle Boy" in the Academy Award-winning 1942 film "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Bob Hope popularized the song further in the 1955 Academy Award-nominated film "The Seven Little Foys." And in 1969 Joel Grey played George M. Cohan on Broadway in the smash hit "George M!."

    In 2004, the American Film Institute placed the song at No. 71 on its "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs."

Sources

• The Yankee Doodle Boy, Wikipedia;
• The Yankee Doodle Boy, Library of Congress.

Performances

• The Yankee Doodle Boy by James Cagney from 1942 film "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

• The Yankee Doodle Boy by Billy Murray (1905)

• The Yankee Doodle Boy by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the Ghost Theater Sequence of the film "Babes on Broadway" (1941)

• The Yankee Doodle Boy by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

Sheet Music

The Yankee Doodle Boy-1904.pdf

The Yankee Doodle Boy Sheet Music, Library of Congress

Return to Music And More Main Page