Macaroni, Kangaroos, and Lord North
Baader, Cecilia (cbaader@casecorp.com)
Tue, 15 Jun 1999 13:06:37 -0500
Camille's recent posts on Waltzing Matilda were of great interest to me, the
daughter of the man who sings only rarely, and when he does sing, he sings
but three songs in the rumbling voice of my dreams: Amazing Grace,
Edelweiss, and Waltzing Matilda.
American that I am, I never knew, and neither did my father, what Waltzing
Matilda was about. So when Camille posted her quick study on Waltzing
Matilda, I forwarded it to my old man. My Father. He who knows all.
Better known as Pops. And, historian that he is, he felt compelled to
answer Camille's question about Yankee Doodle's Macaroni:
"Good on Billabong. My guess on the feather in Y>D>'s cap is that represents
the kind of symbol of nobility that such decorations connote. Thus he was
fancying himself up to mock the English [esp. Lord North, the P.M.], but he
called it macaroni, that is, a kind of base, common food-pasta is-and this
was meant to indicate just how much stock the Yankee Colonials put in
feathers and such noble symbols, for they intended to eat it all up. And we
did. At Yorktown."
So thanks, Camille...
Regards,
Cecilia.