"The Recruiting Officer"

“The Recruiting Officer” to the tune of “Over the Hills and Far Away” was popular during the period of the French and Indian War. The second text on this broadside from the late 1750s is the earliest known lyric called “Yanky Doodle.” It is in the same meter as the later songs and, while the chorus is not quite the same, the text has several phrases that bridge the early “Yankee Song” text and the later classic on Coverly’s broadsides.