January 8, Battle of New Orleans, and the music

[Tanuki]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans

..."The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812.[5][6] American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army, under General Edward Pakenham, intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase.[7][8][9] The Treaty of Ghent, having been signed on December 24, 1814, was ratified by the Prince Regent on December 30, 1814, and the United States Senate on February 16, 1815. Hostilities continued until late February when official dispatches announcing the peace reached the combatants in Louisiana, finally putting an end to the war.[10][11] The Battle of New Orleans is widely regarded as the greatest American land victory of the war.[12"......
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As the article notes, the date of the battle was commemorated in a classic string band tune. Jimmy Driftwood wrote lyrics to it, and it was a Grammy winning hit for Johnny Horton as "The Battle of New Orleans." Here is a traditional version of The 8th of January:

And here is Jimmy Driftwood's Battle of New Orleans, including the verses that did not make it into the Johnny Horton hit:

[Bennyboy]

1. Today in New Orleans, the battle is for the music....

Lots of stuff going on in NOLA> Noise limits in many neighborhoods that will kill live music there.

All you need to know about the battle and how you can help in here: http://chat.nojazzfest.com/showthread.php?21988-ACTION-ALERT!-VCPORA-Noise-Ordinance

[nolabear]

2. Amen, bennyboy. Gentrification sucks.

I have good friends in the Marigny and they're fighting like mad to keep the music on the street and the apartment buildings out.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Catchy song, but the lyrics bear no relation to the actual battle.

[Tanuki]

4. Awww, are you saying it's not really true that they

"grabbed an alligator and fought another round"?


..."We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind."...

[img][/img]

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Ha, ha. But apart from that

the lyrics that describe realistic events describe events that didn't happen.

They didn't "catch the bloody British" who then ran away in terror through the undergrowth. Rather, the Americans and British were both racing to occupy and reinforce an old Spanish fort which occupied high ground. The Americans got there first. The British commander was told by his subordinates that there was no point in attacking such a stronghold, that it would be a waste of good men, but he was determined to get credit for an impressive victory, so he went ahead and wasted the good men. He kept ordering attacks on the impregnable position, and his men kept doing it, despite the heavy losses. Finally, he accepted reality and withdrew.

There was attack by Jackson's forces on a British position, earlier, but the British fought that off successfully. During the main battle, it was part of the American forces that broke and ran. Fortunately for the Americans, the British had no way of knowing that, or they would have attacked the abandoned positions and the result might have been very different.

[Tanuki]

6. Thanks for the interesting information!

I currently live less than 10 miles away from Andrew Jackson's home, the Hermitage.