Yankee Doodle
went to town
A-riding on a
pony,
Stuck a feather
in his cap
And called it
macaroni'.
Having said the words ‘The
Last Yankee’ countless time over the last few weeks it’s not surprising that
this nursery rhyme would pop into my head, absent-mindedly humming while the
cast of our upcoming production of Miller’s play rehearsed behind me I suddenly
realised I had no idea what the lyrics were talking about.
What had Yankee Doodle
named macaroni, the feather, his hat, or the pony? And why was he called Yankee Doodle?
To my surprise Mr
Doodle had not named anything after a type of pasta commonly coupled with
cheese. The Macaroni was in fact a wig
that came to fashion in the 1770’s, and the term quickly became adopted for describing
foppish gentlemen. So this song, sung by
British military officers, is actually an attack on the masculinity of the
early American colonists.
And
it gets worse, “Doodle” is a word derived from German meaning “fool”, so not
only were the officers having a crack at the colonialist testicularity but also
they were saying that these ‘Yanks’ were so naïve and stupid that they thought
putting a feather in their hats made them fashionable.
Of course it’s not
surprising to find out that a nursery rhyme isn’t quite as innocent as first
thought, however it’s interesting to see how it links with the Miller
play. The song is ultimately an attack
on American identity, specifically New England colonists, adjacent to this we
have four characters beautifully painted by Miller all struggling with their own
personal identities and ancestry in American history.
While we are yet to
release the official poster and trailer for our upcoming production… why not
enjoy this…
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