The Battle of New Orleans is a song, written by Jimmy Driftwood and popularized by country music singer Johnny Horton, based on Andrew Jackson's exploits at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

History

The melody has its roots in a well-known American bluegrass tune The 8th of January, which was the date of the Battle of New Orleans. Jimmy Driftwood, a school principal in Arkansas with a passion for history, set a historical account of the battle to this music in an attempt to get students interested in learning history. It worked, and Driftwood became well known in the region for his historical songs. He was "discovered" in the late 1950s by Don Warden , and eventually signed to a recording contract by RCA, for whom he recorded 12 songs in 1958, including The Battle of New Orleans.

Johnny Horton was a little-known country musician living near Nashville, Tennessee at the time. He heard the song on the radio one night in 1959 and told Columbia, his label, he wanted to record it. By summer, his recording had shot to the top of both the country and pop music charts. Jimmy Driftwood won a Grammy for Song of the Year, and Horton won a Grammy for Best Country and Western Performance.

Parodies

• The Battle of Kookamonga [1] - Homer & Jethro, 1959
• The Battle of the Waikato [2] - Howard Morrison Quartet, 1960
• The Battle of Tora Bora [3] - Sharon Longworth
• Goin' Postal [4] - Linda Koski and Larry Franks

External links

• Tom Simon's Battle of New Orleans page
• The Bluegrass Messengers history and recordings
• MIDI file of music (from Louisiana History, which includes Johnny Horton's lyrics)
• Library of Congress page, includes recording of The Eighth of January