The Battle of New Orleans (aka The Eighth of January)

--- Trad./Jimmy Driftwood

Jimmy Driftwood resurrected an old campaign song, left out the penultimate verse and the references to Jean Lafitte, and had a hit record with it.

[G]In Eighteen-Fourteen we [C]took a little trip
A-[D7]long with Colonel Jackson down the [G]mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we [C]took a little beans,
And we [D7]caught the bloody British near the [G]town of New Orleans. 

[chorus] [G]We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
              There wasn’t nigh as many as there [D7]was a while a-[G]go.
              We fired once more and they commence to runnin’
              On down the Mississippi to the [D7]Gulf of Mexi-[G]co. 

Well I [G]see’d Marse Jackson a-[C]walkin’ down the street
[D7]Talkin’ to a pirate by the [G]name of Jean Lafitte.
He gave Jean a drink that he’d [C]brung from Tennessee
And the [D7]pirate said he’d help us drive the [G]British to the sea. 

The [G]Frenchie said to Andrew,”Now [C]you had better run.”
Old [D7]Packingham’s a-comin’ with a [G]bullet in his gun.
Old Hick’ry said that he [C]didn’t give a damn,
He’s [D7]gonna whip the britches off of [G]Colonel Packingham. 

             [chorus]

Well we [G]looked down the river and we [C]see’d the British come;
There [D7]must have been a hunnerd of ‘em [G]beatin’ on the drum.
They stepped so high and they [C]made their bugles ring;
While we [D7]stood behind our cotton bales and [G]didn’t say a thing. 

Old [G]Hick’ry said we could [C]take ‘em by surprise
If we [D7]didn’t fire a musket ‘til we [G]looked ‘em in the eyes.
We held our fire ‘til we [C]see’d their faces well,
Then we [D7]opened up with squirrel guns and [G]really gave ‘em Hell. 

             [chorus]

Well we [G]fired our cannon ‘til the [C]barrel melted down
So we [D7]grabbed an alligator and we [G]fought another round.
We filled his head with cannonballs and [C]powdered his behind,
And [D7]when we touched the powder off the [G]‘gator lost his mind. 

We’ll [G]march back home but we’ll [C]never be content
Un-[D7]til we make Old Hickory the [G]people’s President.
And every time we think about the [C]bacon and the beans,
We’ll [D7]think about the fun we had way [G]down in New Orleans. 

             [chorus]

Well they [G]ran through the briars and they ran through the [C]brambles.
They [D7]ran through the bushes where a [G]rabbit couldn’t go.
They ran so fast that the [C]hounds couldn’t catch ‘em,
On [D7]down the Mississippi to the [G]Gulf of Mexico. 

[chorus] [G]We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
              There wasn’t nigh as many as there [D7]was a while a-[G]go.
              We fired once more and they commence to runnin’
              On down the Mississippi to the [D7]Gulf of Mexi-[G]co.

Back to songs index