Battle of New Orleans ::: Lonnie Donegan and Lyrics

[baildude12]

2 people are british aligators

[foucault1020]

@nitwit2008. You stole my sn dued ;D. Yes- for some reason Lonnie put in "Peckenham". But thanks for the strategy & tactics of history. IDK.

[Donttouchtheswitch]

This is really good.

[foucault1020]

Riki- you rock. I never knew you did this. BRIL. Thanks. I am so OCD on this & never knew it was you. Shoulda figured.

[Rikkyhardo]

@foucault1020 Yeh ... this was the sorta stuff playing when I was young, and I loved it so I had to try and do it grace by adding a few pics. Thanks very much for the praise mate.

There are 2 more Lonnie Donegan's I've tried to interpret, Tom Dooley and Go tell aunt rhody which should give you a laugh

[foucault1020]

@Rikkyhardo I'm on it! Hey- I liked the stuff back in the day. But for me- you make it more better. Very very subtle nuances. I first found u by serendipity- Waltzing Matilda in an Aussi tribute to its Iraqi warriers. Fingers crossed for go tell Aunt Rody. PC's crash, they want us all in The Cloud, SOPS compliant, keeping our legs crossed, hi def & plasma screens.

[nitwit2008]

@foucault1020

A bit of history - British fought southern rebels mainly not Yengese.

Also rebels leader was Jackson NOT Packenham who was the British leader

Lost John

[lillyyxox]

LEGEND!!!!!!!!!<3 i love him

[GodSpeedMyFriend1]

thumbs up if your watching them in 2011 :)

[Aukmune]

There are so many versions of this song, Jimmie Driftwood wrote the original lyrics for his history students in 1959 and it won a Grammy the following year , Johnny Horton recorded it '59 and also won a Grammy for best CW performance.

I have listened to Johnny Cash , Lonnie and the NittyGritty Band all perform their own versions and each one brings something different to the song.

As a 57 yr old Brit I am most familiar with Lonnie Ds recording having heard it on the radio when I was a lad.

[Rikkyhardo]

@Aukmune Thanks for the extra info mate ... Lonnie used to be king in them days

[weirdunclebob]

Well, he was born in Scotland but he was two when his family moved to Essex so he was raised in England. I was born in England but raised in Australia and I feel affinity with both countries so I like to think he did, too. I've always liked this song and he did it justice. Thanks =)

[ThrustClint]

Such a pity the Animaniacs never did a version of this.

[poplova]

he looks like screech from saved by the bell

[noddygreenacre]

meow

[nicoalphalpha]

Over half of the signitories of The American Declaration of Independence were of Welsh origin. The Celts i.e. Welsh, Scots and Irish of those days certainly didn't owe the English anything.

[noddygreenacre]

Im a biker in a very large club would you like to come and shut me up, you scot wanker

[Hornet0biker]

@noddygreenacre I'm a biker too, and a Scot. You'll need a "very large club" to back ye up if ye come sniffing up here ye english pussy.

[Rikkyhardo]

Whatever the ins and outs of the song I think Lonnie's version of this tune is freeking ace and I loved it when I was young and it still gives us a thrill when I hear it now

[lovingbeauty21]

dats rite u damn british yep i got irish in me bitch

[UB40Tribute]

@lovingbeauty21 irish what?

[noddygreenacre]

This is an insult to us english lonnie was a englishmen, if i had my way he would have been hanged the bloody traitor,

[WWEHUB]

@noddygreenacre how fucking dare you he is a scot get to fuck you dick

[rangerswin1]

Lonnie Donegan ENGLISH perish the thought!!!

A sadly lamented skiffle genius who was just as big in the States as the UK. RIPLonnie a Scots genius never forgotten.

[sprason1963]

Yes, Packenham should be replaced by Jackson and the song is written from the viewpoint of an American volunteer in Jackson's army. Our brit sense of humour is responsible for some of this probably.

[dupes69]

its just a great song - from the creator of british rock 'n' roll - geddit??!!

[globalnettuber]

Donegan got the words mixed up a bit. The Americans went down the Mississippi River with Col Jackson to New Orleans. Pakenham was a British officer heading to New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico..

Andy Jackson was called "Old Hickory" The original song contains these lines, "We'll march back home but we'll never be content

till we make Old Hickory the people's President."  Jackson was elected President in 1828.

[bykerbank]

In the UK it was the Rebels kept a coming

[SINLO95J]

I may be only 15 but i do love good ol Lonnie

[lindygee]

I guess I don't get it. If the song is from the British view by coming down with Packenham, then why is it saying that they fought the British instead of the Yanks or Americans or whatever?

[Rikkyhardo]

@lindygee It's sung by an English guy and I think he gets the words messed up a bit. I noticed that contradiction as well

[foucault1020]

@Rikkyhardo None the less- there is a Southern soft constant with an occasional rolling Brit "r". Messed up the historical accuracy of "Peckenham" too. Doesn't mater. Skiffle is a very skillful technique- metronome which had the Beatle remix in the sixties.

[foucault1020]

@Rikkyhardo mE TOO! wHATEVER- sKIFFLE IS WHAT STARTED tHE bEATLES MARKETING & Merchandising medley. Hey- it saved the U. K. back in the day. Why do you think Q E II knighted all those beknighted sots?

[Rikkyhardo]

@foucault1020 The big bands in those days were paying a hellish high tax, so I guess they did save the UK

[MADNESSRULE2K8]

@Rikkyhardo Maybe Lonnie Left "Fought Bloody British,, basicly meaning "Yeah i was born english but dooes it mean im british, " Meaning No Matter What Place we Were Born/Live In We Should  Be All 1

[cheribeb]

@Rikkyhardo he is a Scottish guy get it right. And the song is from an American point of view

[Rikkyhardo]

@cheribeb Yeh, he was born in Glasgow but he was bought up in London and he sounds more Cockney than Scotty.

[UB40Tribute]

@Rikkyhardo Lonnie Donegan was from Glasgow Scotland he was mocking the English

[UB40Tribute]

@Rikkyhardo Lonnie Donegan was from Glasgow Scotland he was mocking the English and was an attempt to get into the USA Mainstream

[Rikkyhardo]

@UB40Tribute I guess that sounds pretty plausible 'cause he is giving the BRITISH a bit of a mocking, not the English. There's no mention of English in the song so I guess he's ribbing the Scottish as well.

Boom boom! ;~)

[mamnamik]

@lindygee its skiffle. its not supposed to make sense

[clogheen11]

@lindygee

Why would Pakenham (an English officer) tell the American rebels how to take the English by surprise?

[BongoExpress]

@lindygee lol, because most the americans wer second or 3rd generation irish and scots who had been chaced from ireland and scotland by the british army in the highland clearances, they then settled in america, and supported the american war of independence (in ma opinion just another perfect excuse to knock fuck oot the filthy arse licking red coats, )

[UB40Tribute]

@BongoExpress most scotts and irish joined up we the army cause they couldnt live the dream they was promised mainly cause English arostocracy was in the USA and it was a gauranteed meal once a day

[sonjainge69]

@lindygee

this is from the view of the u.s.. the war of 1812 was already ended(treaty of ghent signed on dec. 24. 1814) but it did not reach the combatants until february 1815. this battle is considered by many the biggest lans victory of the americans over the british.

[sonjainge69]

@lindygeebut you are right. lonnie's lyrics should say "with jackson" and not "colonel pakenham". jackson was the american general, pakenham the english. in the british version it does say correctly "we took a little trip with pakenham" and "we fought the bloody rebels"...nice catch!

[Circumpunk]

This is a very intresting rendition of this song. I was familiar with the Johnny Horton version but never heard of Lonnie Donegan before you sent this. I have enjoyed it immensely! Thank you kind Sir!

Oh, the battle was waged after the Treaty of Ghent declared the war over, ha ha ha . Our communications have only slightly improved since then ; )

[Rikkyhardo]

@Circumpunk we British didna do so well did we?

[foucault1020]

@Rikkyhardo Y'all did as well as Amerika did in Afghanistan. Did not win the hearts & minds nor make the Motley Colony receptive to colonisation : (

[foucault1020]

@Rikkyhardo Absolutement M'amie. So glad you notised : }

[foucault1020]

@Circumpunk Sir- google the 1957 overly orchestrated Ed Sullivan vignette of James Horton. It's balack & white- 'a la Amerika back in the day.

[1974kelvo]

@Circumpunk One difference between the two songs is I think Lonnie's very has 'bloomin' British as opposed to 'bloody' British as you couldn't say 'bloody' back then.

Now I'll try and find the Johnny Horton version. I think they were both in the charts at the same time?

[jrgboy]

@1974kelvo Lonnie says in a Yoube interview he had to overdub the words Bloody British to Bloomin' British cos the BBC, the only radio station on air back then, refused to play it.

[TheKontosuburbian]

Oh, and what's that accent of his? A southern one?

[Rikkyhardo]

@TheKontosuburbian yup ... southern England (London Cockney I believe)

[foucault1020]

@TheKontosuburbian Scott's Irish- classically trained with the Brit adenoidal rolling "r". He does a Southern remix better than the composer- James Driftwood (Arkansas).

[TheKontosuburbian]

Lovely little tune, thanks for sending me this one!

[Bluebottle83]

wonderful

[kdhvernon]

I can still remember hearing this song when I was very young.It still sounds good today.

[sailette01]

Thanks to all of you who put these Lonnie Donegan songs together....What an amazing collection of historic photographs....I remember singing some of these songs when I was young. The pictures are powerful and really impactful....A powerful way to supplement our children's history lessons.

[redcrowdemon]

Why hasn't the world yet noticed what a brilliant singer (blues singer, in fact) that Lonnie was...?

[xXkazza82Xx]

Luv it , great

[frankieflash]

best version by far!

[mountnmonkey]

Hey Rikky, Yeah, I like this version just fine..Another great posting...*ron

[kaymerjon]

Never heard that song before, thanks for sharing it with me :)