Yankee Doodle was an early American song with several versions of humorous verses, popular during the Revolutionary War.
The term Yankee was originally used as a disparaging nickname for a Hollander, later for Dutch freebooter, and applied by colonial Dutch living in New York to English settlers in Connecticut. Doodle (or Tootle) is a reference to the sound make in tonguing a flute or fife, for which the tune of "Yankee Doodle" was apparently first written.
The popular version of the first stanza is
Yankee Doodle came to town
Riding on a pony;
He 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.
