Lyrics below are from the sheet music at Indiana University.

You can hear a 1918 recording by Arthur Fields at YouTube. Where Fields' words differ from the sheet music, I have put them in brackets.

THE YANKS STARTED YANKIN'
Words and music by Charles McCarron and Carey Morgan
New York: Broadway Music Corporation, ©1918.

1. I dreamed of a scene in an old soldier's home.
The year was nineteen fifty three.
With medals galore that he'd won in this war,
He sat smoking peacefully.
"Tell me of the war of nineteen seventeen,"
Said his grandson who stood by his side.
"How did they fix up that terrible mix-up?"
And proudly the old man replied:

CHORUS: The Russians were rushin' the Prussians.
The Prussians were crushin' the Russians.
The Balkans were balkin' and Turkey was squawkin',
Rasputin disputin' and Italy scootin' [or "hootin'"],
The Boches all bulled Bolshevikis.
The British were skittish at sea [or "watching the sea"],
But the good Lord I'm thankin',
The Yanks started yankin'
And yanked Kaiser Bill up a tree.

2. My dream quickly changed to a schoolroom that day.
The lesson was geography.
A child raise her hand, said, "I don't understand.
This map looks all wrong to me.
What is this strange place that is marked Germany?"
And the teacher replied with a roar:
"Why, that's an old map, dear; since we had that scrap, dear,
There ain't no such place any more.

CHORUS: The Russians were rushin' the Prussians.
The Prussians were crushin' the Russians.
The good old Italians were hurling battalions,
Canadians raidin' and Frenchmen invadin'.
The Bulgars were bulgin' the Belgians,
But Yanks started yankin', you see,
And when peace was conceded,
Some new maps were needed.
They ruined the geography.