In honor of the 197th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815), this week’s song is, well, the Battle of New Orleans. Although the song is usually associated with Johnny Horton, it was written by Jimmy Driftwood, an Arkansas teacher who wrote songs to help his students learn history, a practice that probably should be more widespread. Driftwood wrote this song in 1936 using the melody of a traditional fiddle tune called The 8th of January. He recorded his version in 1958, then Horton scored a big hit with it the following year. The song has subsequently been recorded by dozens of other musicians and even spoofed a few times. Here’s Driftwood’s original cut.
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