I've always hated<br />That overrated<br />Pretentious music, complicated,<br />And compositions<br />That have conditions,<br />And intermissions that please musicians.<br />It's hard to hear it, or just be near it,<br />Upon my word I always fear it,<br />For I'm the original cranky, Yankee popular melody fool.<br /><br />Give me a tune that's worth a listening,<br />Give me a tune that's worth a whistling.<br />I want a Sousa strain<br />Instead of a Wagner pain;<br />Give the trombones a chance to blow in it,<br />Give me a dash of rag and go in it.<br />What I'm stating<br />Is advocating<br />The popular melody school.<br /><br />I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune,<br />Played by a military band.<br />I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune,<br />The only music I can understand.<br />Oh! Sousa, won't you write another march,<br />Yours is just the melody divine.<br />You may have your William Tell,<br />And Faust and Lohengrin as well,<br />But I'll take a Yankee Doodle tune for mine.<br /><br />Give me the fellow<br />Who writes the mellow<br />Contagious strain that's rather yellow.<br />It may be hashy,<br />And may be trashy,<br />But still it's dashy and gets the cashy.<br />It's really clever<br />And lasts forever,<br />You hear it once, forget it never,<br />For now we are coming to hanky, panky, popular melody days.<br /><br />That it's the music, there's no doubt of it.<br />Cut all the cheap cadenzas out of it.<br />Music to please the gang<br />With plenty of biff and bang;<br />Music that all the children hum a bit,<br />All the composer's glories come of it.<br />It's so ringing,<br />That's what is bringing<br />The popular melody craze.<br /><br /><br /><br />"I Want To Hear A Yankee Doodle Tune" is sung by George M. Cohan. Recorded on May 4, 1911. The song was in the Cohan show Mother Goose.<br /><br />George Michael Cohan was born on July 3, 1878. He died on November 5, 1942.<br /><br />George M. Cohan was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. <br /><br />Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as "The Four Cohans." <br /><br />Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals. <br /><br />Cohan published more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including the standards "Over There", "Give My Regards to Broadway", "The Yankee Doodle Boy," and "You're a Grand Old Flag."
