You Say You Want a Revolution?

No, Mike Van Rensselaer is not singing a classic by Lennon or McCartney. Speaking before the Daughters of the American Revolution, singing The Beatles might just get you called a Torie or even hanged for treason. Instead, the retired educator and active folk singer is leading the monthly meeting of the DAR Washburn Chapter in a rousing version of “Chester,” a patriotic song of the Revolutionary War written by William Billings, considered the “Father of American Choral Music.” Van Rensselaer went on to sing and tell the story of “Yankee Doodle.” Originally written in 1755 by a British army surgeon, the song was meant to mock colonial soldiers. The Americans soon turned “Yankee Doodle” around on the British, taking the insult and making it into a song of national pride. Himself a son of the Revolution, Van Rensselaer spoke of the song being near to his heart, as it was written at Fort Crailo, the home of his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Johannes Van Rensselaer, proprietor of Rensselaerwyck, a vast family manor along the Hudson River in New York. Eighteen men from Van Rensselaer’s family fought in the war for independence.