OK, so we all thinlc that we /`now this little tune by heart, but guess what? There are seven verses to the song, and so working under the assumption that most people only know the first verse and refrain, here are the words in their entirety.

Verse One: Father and I went down to camp along with Captain Gooding, And there we saw the men and boys as thick as hasty pudding.

Refrain: Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mind the music and the step, and with the girls be handy.

Verse Two: There was Captain Washington upon a slapping stallion, A-giving orders to his men -- there must have been a million.

Verse Three: Then I saw a swamping gun as large as logs of maple, upon a very little cart, a load of Father's cattle.

Verse Four: Every time they shot it off, It took a horn of powder, And made a noise like Father's gun, only a nation louder.

Verse Five: There I saw a wooden keg with heads made out of leather, They knocked upon it with some sticks to call the folks together.

Verse Six: Then they'd fife away like fun, And play on cornstalk fiddles, And some had ribbons red as blood, All bound across their middles.

Verse Seven: I can't tell you all I saw -- They kept up such a smother. I took my hat off, made a bow, And scampered home to mother.

The melody comes from the English game song called Lucy Locket and was brought over to America by British soldiers during the French & Indian War. During the American Revolution, the British soldiers used a derisive set of lyrics to mock the shabby colonial soldiers, and the colonists had their own set of lyrics that eventually became their battle cry. "Yankee" was a contemptuous nickname the British used for the New Englanders, and "Doodle" meant dope, half wit or fool.

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