I doubt they teach this song in school anymore. But, if you're as old as I am, and you learned this song in grade school music class, how many of you thought (as I did) that she'll be riding six wide horses? I was probably in Junior High before I knew what color the horses were...
#CoSoMusic
@paxterrarum
I'm guessing elementary school teachers are afraid to teach anything that makes no friggin' sense, for fear there is some hidden racist meaning, eg. "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
@AlphaCentauri
Interesting you say that. The creators of one of the best elementary music lesson book series put out a supplement on their website with alternative replacements to several songs found in their lessons. These songs recently came to light as being derogatory or otherwise problematic.
See the "important message" (PDF):
https://kid-sounds.com/index.php
@voltronic @paxterrarum
Are they objecting to "dandy" in Yankee Doodle? My understanding is that it is a man who dresses stylishly, regardless of sexual orientation. The British may have meant the song mockingly, but the colonists weren't so offended that they didn't adopt it for themselves.
@AlphaCentauri
That's my guess, but if so I agree with you that they're interpreting it wrong.
I teach the song to my students, including what everything in it really means.
@AlphaCentauri @voltronic @paxterrarum
Hmm. I can’t remember the lyrics to that one, other than the refrain, so I am not sure.
@AlphaCentauri @voltronic @paxterrarum
Ok, just read the lyrics. Might be the with the girls be handy part.
@AlphaCentauri @voltronic @paxterrarum
I recollect now feeling weird singing the “with the girls be handy” part as a small child in school.
I don’t think the issue is with “dandy.”
@Myrth @voltronic @paxterrarum
No argument, in a less genteel age it might indicate someone being rapey, but that wasn't what the website cited as the problem.
@Myrth @voltronic @paxterrarum
Lyrics here:
https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/traditional/yankee-doodle
For an idea of how little "dandy" implies being effeminate, see the old Herman's Hermits song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEvvaQJlfzU
@Myrth
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Riding on a pony
He put a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.
@AlphaCentauri
I may be misremembering but I think "macaroni" was a contemporary slang for cool or stylish and is used in the song sarcastically to insult the Yankee dress sense.
eg "He thinks a feather in his cap is cool! Hahaha! What an idiot!"
So maybe it's that part more than the "dandy" bit that is seen as problematic, OR since as you say, it was adopted, it has just become too associated with the pro-slavery part of US history.
@stueytheround
The "Maccaroni" were members of an upper-crust men's fashion movement that incorporated feathers from exotic birds in their expensive outfits.
@voltronic
Cool. Thanks.
So I had the right reason but the wrong definition!
@AlphaCentauri @paxterrarum
@stueytheround @AlphaCentauri @paxterrarum
Yankee doodle = an idiot
Riding on a pony = can't afford a proper horse
Feather, macaroni = poor boy pretending he's rich
Dandy = I believe somewhat equivalent to 'fop'
Mind the music and the step = incapable of marching in time
With the girls be handy = mocking that no girls would want such a poor rube
@stueytheround @AlphaCentauri @paxterrarum
Mind you, there's more than a dozen other verses that were written over the years, but that's the best explanation I've found in my research. It was just meant to be highly insulting, in that these poor, dirty, ragtag local boys had no business even fighting in a war.
@voltronic @AlphaCentauri I didn't know it at the time, but the campfire songs I learned at Boy Scout Camp were totally inappropriate.