Battle of New Orleans - Jimmie Driftwood

The Battle of New Orleans
Written by: Jimmie Driftwood
Originally written by: [Traditional]
Adapted from: The 8th of January written by [Traditional]
First recording: The Battle of New Orleans by Jimmie Driftwood (October 26, 1957)
First release: The Battle of New Orleans by Jimmie Driftwood on audio album Jimmie Driftwood Sings Newly Discovered American Folk Songs (1958)

Battle of New Orleans Lyrics

Well, in 18 and 14, we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Missisip
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we met the bloody British in the town of New Orleans

We fired our guns and the British kept a comin'
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began a running
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

Well, I seed Mars Jackson walkin' down the street
Talkin' to a pirate by the name of Jean Lafitte;
He gave Jean a drink that he brung from Tennessee,
And the pirate said he'd help us drive the British in the sea.

The French told Andrew, "You had better run

For Packenham's a=comin' with a bullet in his gun."
Old Hickory said he didn't give a damn
He's a-gonna whup the britches off of Colonel Packenham.

Well, we looked down the river and we seed the British come
And there must have been a hundred of them beating on the drum
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
While we stood behind our cotton bales and didn't say a thing

Old Hickory said we could take em by surprise
If we didn't fire a musket till we looked em in the eyes
We held our fire till we seed their face well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave em well..

Well we fired our cannons till the barrels melted down
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round
We filled his head with minie balls and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the 'gator lost his mind

We'll march back home, but we'll never be content
Till we make Old Hick'ry the people's president.
And every time we think about the bacon and the beans
We'll think about the fun we had way down in New Orleans.

Yeah they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

Battle of New Orleans Singers

1 Jimmie Driftwood 1958


2 Johnny Horton (billboard hot 100) April 1959 3 Lonnie Donegan June 1959 4 Paul Rich July 1959 5 Vaughn Monroe 1959 6 The Jordanaires 1962 7 Sandy Nelson 1962 8 Eddy Arnold January 1963 9 The Brothers Four October 1964 10 The Royal Guardsmen 1966 11 Jim Ed Brown May 1968 12 Harpers Bizarre August 1968 13 Boots Randolph 1969 14 Johnny Cash 1972 15 Leon Russell September 1973 16 Casey Anderson 1974 17 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 1974 18 Buck Owens September 8, 1975 19 Bill Haley and The Comets November 9, 1979 20 Hoyt Axton 1980 21 Zachary Richard 1990 22 George Canyon October 9, 2007


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