I Want To Hear A Yankee Doodle Tune - George M. Cohan (1911) from commonlit login with clever Watch Video

⏲ Duration: 2:34
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✓ Published: 16-Apr-2024

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I've always hated<br/>That overrated<br/>Pretentious music, complicated,<br/>And compositions<br/>That have conditions,<br/>And intermissions that please musicians.<br/>It's hard to hear it, or just be near it,<br/>Upon my word I always fear it,<br/>For I'm the original cranky, Yankee popular melody fool.<br/><br/>Give me a tune that's worth a listening,<br/>Give me a tune that's worth a whistling.<br/>I want a Sousa strain<br/>Instead of a Wagner pain;<br/>Give the trombones a chance to blow in it,<br/>Give me a dash of rag and go in it.<br/>What I'm stating<br/>Is advocating<br/>The popular melody school.<br/><br/>I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune,<br/>Played by a military band.<br/>I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune,<br/>The only music I can understand.<br/>Oh! Sousa, won't you write another march,<br/>Yours is just the melody divine.<br/>You may have your William Tell,<br/>And Faust and Lohengrin as well,<br/>But I'll take a Yankee Doodle tune for mine.<br/><br/>Give me the fellow<br/>Who writes the mellow<br/>Contagious strain that's rather yellow.<br/>It may be hashy,<br/>And may be trashy,<br/>But still it's dashy and gets the cashy.<br/>It's really clever<br/>And lasts forever,<br/>You hear it once, forget it never,<br/>For now we are coming to hanky, panky, popular melody days.<br/><br/>That it's the music, there's no doubt of it.<br/>Cut all the cheap cadenzas out of it.<br/>Music to please the gang<br/>With plenty of biff and bang;<br/>Music that all the children hum a bit,<br/>All the composer's glories come of it.<br/>It's so ringing,<br/>That's what is bringing<br/>The popular melody craze.<br/><br/><br/><br/>\