The tune of "Yankee Doodle" is thought to be much older than the lyrics, being well known across western Europe, including England, France, Netherlands, Hungary, and Spain.

[4][5] There are rumors that the earliest words of "Yankee Doodle" came from a Middle Dutch harvest song which is thought to have followed the same tune, supposedly dating back as far as 15th-century Holland.

[6][7] It supposedly contained mostly nonsense words in English and Dutch: "Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther.

[11] The macaroni wig was an example of such Rococo dandy fashion, popular in elite circles in Western Europe and much-mocked in the London press.

In British conversation, the term "Yankee doodle dandy" implied unsophisticated misappropriation of upper-class fashion, as though simply sticking a feather in one's cap would transform the wearer into a noble.

[15] The British troops sang it to mock their stereotype of the American soldier as a Yankee simpleton who thought that he was stylish if he simply stuck a feather in his cap.

[1] It was also popular among the Americans as a song of defiance,[1] and they added verses to it that mocked the British and hailed George Washington as the Commander of the Continental army.

[19] A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on July 25, 1999,[20] recognizing Billerica, Massachusetts, as "America's Yankee Doodle Town".

After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, a Boston newspaper reported: Upon their return to Boston [pursued by the Minutemen], one [Briton] asked his brother officer how he liked the tune now, – "Dang them", returned he, "they made us dance it till we were tired" – since which Yankee Doodle sounds less sweet to their ears.The earliest known version of the lyrics comes from 1755 or 1758 (the date of origin is disputed):[21] Brother Ephraim sold his Cow And bought him a Commission; And then he went to Canada To fight for the Nation;

The sheet music which accompanies these lyrics reads, "The Words to be Sung through the Nose, & in the West Country drawl & dialect."

The tune also appeared in 1762 in one of America's first comic operas The Disappointment, with bawdy lyrics about the search for Blackbeard's buried treasure by a team from Philadelphia.

[28] A variant is preserved in the 1810 edition of Gammer Gurton's Garland: Or, The Nursery Parnassus, collected by Francis Douce, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: Yankey Doodle came to town, How do you think they serv'd him?

[29] The full version of the song as it is known today:[30][31] Yankee Doodle went to town A-riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his cap And called it macaroni.

[Chorus] The tune shares with the English language nursery rhymes "Simple Simon", "Jack and Jill", and "Lucy Locket".

I established contact at the Soviet embassy with people who spoke English and were willing to feed me important bits and pieces from their side of the wire.

I had long ago, somewhat facetiously, suggested “Yankee Doodle” as our musical signal, and now that silly little jingle was a power cue, a note of hope everywhere on earth, conveyed by short wave as well as by our four-hour American BBC.