"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", originally published as "Tip and Ty", is acampaign song of theWhig Party'sLog Cabin Campaign in the1840 United States presidential election. Its lyrics sang the praises ofWhig candidateWilliam Henry Harrison (the "hero ofTippecanoe") andJohn Tyler, while denigrating incumbentDemocraticpresidentMartin Van Buren ("Little Van").
Folk music criticIrwin Silber wrote that the song "firmly established the power of singing as a campaign device" in the United States, and that this and the other songs of 1840 represent a "Great Divide" in the development of American campaign music.[1] TheNorth American Review at the time even remarked that the song was, "in the political canvas of 1840 what theMarseillaise was to the French Revolution. It sang Harrison into the presidency."[2]
Today, thesloganTippecanoe and Tyler Too is better remembered than the song among Americans.
The song was written by Alexander Coffman Ross, a jeweler ofZanesville, Ohio, in 1840, to the music of theminstrelsy song "Little Pigs". He first performed it at a Whig meeting in Zanesville, and it came to national attention when, traveling on a business trip, he introduced it to a Whig rally in New York. Ross apparently nevercopyrighted the song.[1]
"Little Pigs" is not well-documented, but the available evidence suggests that there was a substantial adaptation of the score for "Tip and Ty".[3]
A historical society inMadison, Wisconsin, claimed that a local, the young nephew of future U.S. Supreme Court justiceLevi Woodbury, wrote the first verses of the song and that its premiere performance at a Whig rally came at the suggestion of Woodbury.[4][5] Woodbury was, however, by all accounts a Democrat, not a Whig, and was in fact serving asSecretary of the Treasury underMartin Van Buren at the time.
There were many variations on the song published at the time, especially ones with new verses. It has been called a "satirical, expandable text that permitted, nay urged, singers to add their own lines".[3]
Tip and Ty
What's the cause of this commotion, motion, motion,
Our country through?
It is the ball a-rolling on
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too.
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too.
And with them we'll beat little Van, Van, Van,
Van is a used up man.
And with them we'll beat little Van.
Ross's version has twelve verses and a rousing chorus. There is repeated reference to rolling balls and constant motion, and rolling "great canvas balls"[6] became a physical prop in the campaign pageantry, alongside the better-known log cabins and hard cider barrels.
The song's appeal has been compared to that of a great popnovelty song, as against the relative seriousness of most campaign songs.[3]
Martin Van Buren is derided as "Little Van" and "Little Matty" and his supporters as "Vanjacks". These are contrasted with the rustic virtues of Harrison and the inevitability of his victory throughout the states.
The refrainFor Tippecanoe and Tyler too is highlyeuphonious: It exhibits a triplealliteration, aninternal rhyme, and nearly forms aniambic tetrameter.
The song was part of the 1968Off-Broadway musicalHow to Steal an Election and its cast album, with music and lyrics adapted by folk singerOscar Brand.
The song has been recorded in a traditional form multiple times — in 1960 by Broadway veteranHoward Da Silva on the album "Politics and Poker — Songs to Get Elected By" released byMonitor Records (New York); in 1978 by Peter Janovsky on the albumWinners and Losers: Campaign Songs from the Critical Elections in American History, Vol. 1 forFolkways Records; and in 1999 by Oscar Brand on the albumPresidential Campaign Songs: 1789–1996 forSmithsonian Folkways Recordings, the successor label to Folkways Records.
The bandThey Might Be Giants recorded an alternative rock version of the song for the 2004 compilation albumFuture Soundtrack for America, using a three-verse lyric as adapted by Oscar Brand (from the first, eighth and second verses in Ross's original). The compilation was a benefit album for political causes relating tothat year's election.John Flansburgh of They Might be Giants has remarked on the song's historical success as "the 'Rock Around the Clock' of campaign songs"[7] and "the 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' of campaign songs."[8]
The song is featured in Episode 3,Season 7 of the television seriesParks and Recreation.Leslie Knope attempts to use the supposed remains of a cabin once belonging to Harrison to create groundswell support for converting the site into a national park.[9]
Works related toTippecanoe and Tyler too at Wikisource
.png)
