Yankee Doodle, keep it up/ Yankee Doodle Dandy Mind the music and the step, and with the girls be handy. Those who settled in Connecticut were called Yankees, a Dutch word meaning “little John.” ...

S. Foster Damon, a musical detective, however, showed that the words of “Yankee Doodle” were known in the Colonies by 1745, while both words and the music were in wide circulation by the 1760s.

Then came a song called Come On! Yankee Doodle! When it was over, the 1,100 youngsters went wild. Author of the song was not a music student but an art student: pert, 16-year-old Lynne Rogers ...