A New Song.
Tune :- Yankee Doodle, Doodle Do.

If Yankee Doodle does not mind
We’ll find him work to do, sir,
Honest Bull is quite inclined
To cut the blockade through, sir.
CHORUS
So Yankee now beware, beware,
So Yankee now beware, sir,
For if we land upon your strand
You’ll get into a snare, sir.
The Rose and Thistle are combined:
They’re mighty prickly things, sir;
All foes who grasp them with their hands
Are sure to feel their stings, sir.
Our ships are made of British oak;
Our men’s hearts true as steel, sir;
With bone and muscle for the stroke
We’ll make the Yankees reel, sir.
John Bull’s two hundred thousand men,
Tried men, both good and true, sir;
While Scotland has her thousands ten,
With kilt and bonnet blue, sir.
Each man shall stand with sword in hand –
Each man shall fight his way, sir;
And while Lord Clyde does give command
Great Britain wins the day, sir.
Our balls shall fly swift through the sky;
We’ll give them shell and bomb, sir;
We’ll fight for freedom till we die;
We’ll fight for Queen and home, sir.
Blackburn, Dec. 12, 1861. A.R. H–d-y.

Title:A New Song

Author:A.R. H–d-y

Publication:The Blackburn Standard

Published in:Blackburn

Date:Wednesday, December 18, 1861

Keywords:america, war

Commentary

Set to the familiar tune of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, this nationalistic song celebrates British military might and the possibility of intervention in the American Civil War to break the blockade by force. The combined strength of England and Scotland – the Rose and Thistle – is lauded. The historian Linda Colley has argued that the unity between these two nations was forged through the American War of Independence (see Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Second edition. (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2012), p.146). It is possible that the emphasis on Scottish and English co-operation serves as a reminder of this previous conflict, in spite of the resulting defeat for Britain, or perhaps suggesting that the piece is intended to satirise the brash nationalism of those who advocated intervention in full confidence of easy success. – RM.

In keeping with its stated purpose of song lyrics, the abiding feature of this piece is it repetition. Most obviously, this involves the term ‘sir’ at the end of every other line, which is mockingly formal but also represents a metric extension of the ballad metre. But there are also examples of anaphora (repeated line beginnings).- SR