In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon, and we took a little beans,
And we fought the bloody British near the town of New Orleans.

CHORUS:
Oh, 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.

Well, I seed Marse Jackson a’walkin’ down the street
A’talkin’ to a pirate by the name of Jean Lafitte.
He gave Jean a drink that he brung from Tennessee,
And the pirate said he’d help us drive the British to the sea.

The French said, “Andrew, you’d better run,
’Cause Pakenham’s a’comin’ with a bullet in his gun.”
Ol’ Hickory said he didn’t give a damn,
He’s gonna whup the britches offa Colonel Pakenham.

CHORUS

We looked down the river and we seed 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 behind our cotton bales and didn’t say a thing.

Old Hickory said we could take ’em by surprise
If we didn’t fire our muskets till we looked ’em in the eyes.
We held our fire till we seed their faces well,
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave ’em hell.

CHORUS

We fired our cannons till the barrels melted down,
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with musket balls and powdered his behind,
And when we touched the powder off, that ’gator lost his mind.

They lost their pants and their pretty ruddy coats
And their tails were all a’showin’ like a bunch of billy goats.
They run down the river with their tongues hangin’ out,
And they said they got a lickin’, which there wasn’t any doubt.

CHORUS

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.

The guide who brought the British from the sea
Came a’limpin’ into camp, just as sick as he could be.
He said the dyin’ words of the Colonel Pakenham:
“You better quit your foolin’ with your cousin Uncle Sam.”

CHORUS

We marched back to town in our dirty, ragged pants
And we danced all night with them pretty girls from France.
We couldn’t understand them but they had the sweetest charms;
And we understood ’em better when we got ’em in our arms.

We’ll march back home, but we’ll never be content
Till we make Ol’ Hickory the People’s President;
And every time we think about the bacon and the beans,
We’ll think about the fun we had way down in New Orleans.

CHORUS

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.

I was singing this at work the other day.

Nobody had a clue about what it was about.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Nobody had a clue about what it was about.

The Army law enforcement organization I was a member of long ago had an agreement to send selected investigators to London for a Scotland Yard training course. I knew one agent who attended and he told me that as part of the socializing one evening he was required to stand up and sing a song for the group. I have often thought of his experience and how The Battle of New Orleans would have gone over there, especially this longer, full version as compared with the one by Johnny Horton that was pared down and somewhat sanitized for the radio.

This must have been a "Horton" line...

We fired our canon til the barrel melted down
Then we grabbed an alligator and we fired 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

I watched an interesting/fun video not long ago, comparing the song lyrics to the facts, but try as I might I can't remember whose channel it was.

quote:

Originally posted by rebut10:
This must have been a "Horton" line...
...
We filled his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind

I cannot recall now (without looking it up) who the original author of the song was, but he too wrote “cannon” balls. I changed it for myself to musket balls because of … well, what I know about alligators, ballistics, and cannon and musket balls. I also didn’t like the idea of “shiny” coats, hence “ruddy” in my version.