by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931)
The Statue of Old Andrew Jackson
Language: English
Written while America was in the midst of the war with Germany, August, 1918 Andrew Jackson was eight feet tall. His arm was a hickory limb and a maul. His sword was so long he dragged it on the ground. Every friend was an equal. Every foe was a hound. Andrew Jackson was a Democrat, Defying kings in his old cocked hat. His vast steed rocked like a hobby-horse. But he sat straight up. He held his course. He licked the British at Noo Orleens; Beat them out of their elegant jeans. He piled the cotton-bales twenty feet high, And he snorted "freedom," and it flashed from his eye. And the American Eagle swooped through the air, And cheered when he heard the Jackson swear: -- "By the Eternal, let them come. Sound Yankee Doodle. Let the bullets hum." And his wild men, straight from the woods, fought on Till the British fops were dead and gone. And now Old Andrew Jackson fights To set the sad big world to rights. He joins the British and the French. He cheers up the Italian trench. He's making Democrats of these, And freedom's sons of Japanese. His hobby horse will gallop on Till all the infernal Huns are gone. Yes, Yes, Yes! By the Eternal! Old Andrew Jackson!
Text Authorship:
- by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931), "The Statue of Old Andrew Jackson", appears in The Golden Whales of California, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Jack Marius Jarrett (b. 1934), "The Statue of Old Andrew Jackson", published 1970 [SATB chorus, piano, band or orchestra], from Choral Symphony on American Poems [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-03
Line count: 32
Word count: 215