The state song of Connecticut, “Yankee Doodle,” is well known as a patriotic anthem and a catchy nursery rhyme, but one could also argue it is also one of the earliest known protest songs, adopted and turned on its head by colonists in their fight against the British.
Like many folk songs, the melodic origins of “Yankee Doodle” are hard to pinpoint, but the lyrics we know today were likely penned during the French and Indian War. Volunteer soldiers came from their farms and villages to aid the British, armed with their muskets, plow horses, and the clothes on their backs. According to local legend, as the ragtag soldiers assembled at the Norwalk home of their commanding officer, Colonel Thomas Fitch (son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch), a group of local young women noted their lack of uniforms and insisted they use chicken feathers as plumes in their hat bands. The red-coated British soldiers laughed at the poorly dressed men, calling them “dandies” and “macaronis”—men with affected style or appearance. British surgeon Richard Schackburg (also spelled as Shackburg, Shuckberg, or Shuckburgh) is credited with singing new lyrics to an old marching tune to poke fun at these “doodles”—sorry men or fools.
A Macaroni Dressing Room, print, I.W, after Captain Minshull (MET, 1971.564.7) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wikimedia Commons.
More verses were added over time, but by the battles of Lexington and Concord the song had been co-opted by the colonists and turned against the British; it was often played by Continental Army musicians as the British army retreated. After the war, the tune found its way into popular culture, featuring in plays, operas, and other music.
In the 1970s, Connecticut Governor Thomas Meskill, a graduate of Trinity College, requested a new state song be found after growing tired of hearing the Yale fight song (“Boola, Boola”) every time he arrived at an official function. He first issued an executive order proclaiming “The Hills of My Connecticut” to be the state anthem in 1972, but the General Assembly refused to endorse the choice and the search continued. On November 10, 1977, 20 proposed anthems—some on tape, some performed live—were played in the lobby of the Capitol outside the hall of the House before state legislators.
A version of “Yankee Doodle” was played by the Third Connecticut Regiment of Fife and Drum from East Hampton, brought by Democratic Representative (and future Governor) William A. O’Neill. “What’s wrong with ‘Boola, Boola’?” Mr. O’Neill asked. “Nothing except that everybody didn’t go to Yale. But I think that everybody in Connecticut, no matter what their national origin was, are Connecticut Yankees and considered such.”
While “Yankee Doodle” was officially adopted then as the state song, the debate continued. Some took issue with “Yankee Doodle” being used in television commercials; others debated the song’s actual relevance to the state. In 1984, Richard F. Schneller, the State Senate’s Democratic majority leader, introduced a bill to make “We’re Proud of Connecticut,” a song by retired naval architect James A. Pennypacker, the state song instead. A dozen passionate residents gathered in the Capitol’s Hall of Flags to propose other new options, but the bill was ultimately killed by legislative committee, and “Yankee Doodle” lives on to this day as the Connecticut state song.
