Battle of New Orleans Jimmy Horton (#1 in 1959)

In eighteen and fourteen we took a little trip
A long with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip'.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,
And we met the bloody British near the town of New Orleans.
 
    We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin',
    There wuzn't nigh as many as they wuz a while ago.
    We fired once more and they began to runnin',
    On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

 
We looked down the river and we seed the British come,
They must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on the drums.
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
While we stood beside our cotton bales and didn't say a thing
   Chorus

 

Music and lyrics by Jimmy Driftwood: Jimmy Driftwood was a high school principal and history teacher who loved to sing, play instruments and write songs. He wrote many songs to help his students learn about this battle and other historical events. "The Battle of New Orleans," is about a battle in the War of 1812, and it became one of the biggest selling hits of 1959. It is said that Mr. Driftwood wrote hundreds of verses to the song, but since records were only two to three minutes long at the time, he picked out his favorite ones to be recorded, and those are the ones displayed here. Johnny Horton later recorded the song using the words we've provided below. Students might also be interested to know that there is a movie called "The Buccaneer" about the Battle of New Orleans. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that despite the turbulent early relationship between England and the American colonists, our two countries have long since been strongly united.