Patriotic Songs

USFlagstore.com's list of patriotic songs 

(by date of inclusion)

The USFlagtore.com collects the history and the lyrics of the patriotic songs of the United States of America. This page includes the lyrics. For the individual histories, please see

the individual blogs on our main page.  

• The Star-Spangled Banner

• Yankee Doodle Dandy (two versions)

The Star-Spangled Banner

Lyrics by Francis Scott Key

Music by John Stafford Smith

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Yankee Doodle: Two Versions

Yankee Doodle

a traditional including lyrics as compiled by The Library of Congress

Father and I went down to camp,

Along with Captain Gooding:

There we see the men and boys,

As thick as hasty-pudding.

CHORUS.

Yankee doddle keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

And there we see a thousand men,

As rich as Squire David;

And what they wasted every day,

I wish it could be saved.

Yankee doodle, &c.

The ’lasses they eat every day,

Would keep a house a winter;

They have as much that I’ll be bound,

They eat it when they’re a mind to.

Yankee doodle, &c.

And there we see a swamping gun,

Large as a log of maple,

Upon a duced little cart,

A load for father’s cattle.

Yankee doodle, &c.

And every time they shoot it off,

It takes a horn of powder:

It makes a noise like father’s gun,

Only a nation louder,

Yankee doodle, &c.

I went as nigh to one myself,

As’ Siah’s under-pinning;

And father went as nigh again.

I thought the dence was in him.

Yankee doodle, &c.

Cousin Simon grew so bold,

I thought he would have cock’d it;

It scared me so I streak’d it off,

And hung by father’s pocket.

Yankee doodle, &c.

But Captain Davis has a gun,

He kind of clap’d his hand on’t,

And stuck a crooked stabing iron.

Upon the little end on’t.

Yankee doodle, &c.

And there I see a pumpkin shell,

As big as mother’s bason.

And every time they thouch’d it off,

They scamper’d like the nation.

Yankee doodle, &c.

I see a little barrel too.

The heads were made of leather,

They knock’d upon it with little clubs,

And call’d the folks together.

Yankee doodle, &c.

And there was captain Washington,

And gentle folks about him;

They say he's grown so tarnal proud,

He will not ride without ’em.

Yankee doodle, &c.

He got him on his meeting clothes,

Upon a slapping stallion;

He set the world along in rows,

In hundreds and in millions.

Yankee doodle, &c.

The flaming ribbons in their hats,

They look’d so tearing fine, ah;

I wanted plaguily to get,

To give to my Jemima

Yankee doodle, &c.

I see another snarl of men,

A digging graves, they told me,

So tarnal long, so tarnal deep,

They ’tended they should hold me.

Yankee doodle, &c.

It scar’d me so, I hook’d it off,

Nor stopp’d, as I remember;

Nor turn’d about till I got home.

Lock’d up in mother’s chamber:

Yankee doodle, &c.

Yankee Doodle

alternate version, c. 1775

Father and I went down to camp

Along with Captain Gooding

And there we saw the men and boys

As thick as hasty pudding.

CHORUS.

Yankee doddle keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

There was Captain Washington

Upon a stepping stallion

A-giving orders to his men

I guess there was a million.

CHORUS

And then the feathers on his hat

They looked so' tarnal fin-a

I wanted pockily to get

To give to my Jemima.

CHORUS

And then we saw a swamping gun

Large as a log of maple

Upon a deuced little cart

A load for father's cattle.

CHORUS

And every time they shoot it off

It takes a horn of powder

It makes a noise like father's gun

Only a nation louder.

CHORUS

I went as nigh to one myself

As' Siah's underpinning

And father went as nigh agin

I thought the deuce was in him.

CHORUS

We saw a little barrel, too

The heads were made of leather

They knocked upon it with little clubs

And called the folks together.

CHORUS

And there they'd fife away like fun

And play on cornstalk fiddles

And some had ribbons red as blood

All bound around their middles.

CHORUS

The troopers, too, would gallop up

And fire right in our faces

It scared me almost to death

To see them run such races.

CHORUS

Uncle Sam came there to change

Some pancakes and some onions

For' lasses cake to carry home

To give his wife and young ones.

CHORUS

But I can't tell half I see

They kept up such a smother

So I took my hat off, made a bow

And scampered home to mother.

CHORUS

Cousin Simon grew so bold

I thought he would have cocked it

It scared me so I streaked it off

And hung by father's pocket.

CHORUSL

And there I saw a pumpkin shell

As big as mother's basin

And every time they touched it off

They scampered like the nation.

CHORUS

And there was Captain Washington,

With gentlefolks about him,

They say he's gown so 'tarnal proud

He will not ride without them.

CHORUS

There came Gen'ral Washington

Upon a snow-white charger

He looked as big as all outdoors

And thought that he was larger.

CHORUS