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. 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. Johnny Horton later recorded the song using the words we've provided below.
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 to runnin'
on
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
We looked down the river and we seen the British come.
And there must
have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they
made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.
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 to runnin'
on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our
muskets til we looked 'em in the eyes
We held our fire til we seen their
faces well.
then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em..well.
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 to runnin'
on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
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.
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 to runnin'
on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
Hup 2, 3, 4. Sound off 3, 4.... Hup 2, 3, 4.
Sound off 3, 4.... Hup
2, 3, 4