Revolutionary War Music

Music was a large part of the soldiers lives during the American Revolution. Click on the links below to listen to some of the music the solider's enjoyed.

 

Do you know the song Yankee Doodle?

The patriotic song "Yankee Doodle" was first sung during the American Revolution. The British sang to make fun of the Continental Army's sloppy Clothing:

Yankee Doodle came to town, riding on a pony.
He stuck a feather in his hat, and called it macaroni.

But the Continental Army liked the song anyway. Riding a pony was a sign of importance. Having a feather in one's hat was a sign of honor and macaroni did not mean a noodle. It meant a British man who like fancy clothes and showed off.

New York, Adventures in Time and Place

 

Do you know what song the American soldiers played as the British left Yorktown?

When the British soldiers left Yorktown, they played the song, called:
" The World Turned Upside Down"

If ponies rode men and if grass ate cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse,
If summers were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be turned upside down.

The British world had been turned upside down. After six long years of war, the Americans had won! New Yorkers fought hard for freedom. The British signed a peace agreement on September 3, 1783, the last British soldiers left New York.

New York, Adventures in Time and Place


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