William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Caprice of John Bulls TasteA
Brought by our prisoners from the fleet,
Shows if John Bull be soundly beat,
The drubbing mends his manners.
On lowering flag, at eve, each day,
Strike up, in very awkward way,
Our merry Yankee doodle.
Thus to console each moody guest,
The arch rogue tried his very best
Its cheerful notes to mangle:
Fell before men (without a name,
Mere homespun clowns) they’d tried to tame,
Or, oh, sad! crouch’d in stubble.
So oft that through his ships had run,
No scrape again was heard—not one
Heart-stirring doodle dandy.
To note the change were kind enough,
Ask’d John Bull—if in a huff—
He’d doused his Yankee fiddle.
The fit of music would not come,
And grown most eloquently dumb,
He look’d “I’ll see you d—d first.”