This is the first book ever to chronicle the origins of our most famous tune, recognized the world over as "America's Song." The legacy of "Yankee Doodle" is as rich as the heritage of America, originating in an ancient folk air brought to the New World by Dutch colonists in the 1600s. A century later, a British officer set his own verses to the melody, which mocked New England militia. "Yankee Doodle" was despised by colonials until the Revolution, when it was transformed from a song of insult into America's most stirring anthem of defiance and of victory. Illustrated with period art.