THE THEME SONG:be deluded for a moment,
but cannot be corrupted.
As most students of history will remember, the “Battle of New Orleans” was a battle that took place on January 8, 1815, and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. The American forces, under General Andrew Jackson, facing what appeared to be certain defeat, ended up decisively defeating an invading British army that was intent on seizing New Orleans and America's western lands.
One of the little known anecdotes surrounding that battle occurred later that evening, after the victory, when some of the boys began to play the melody of an old British fiddle tune. But, they cleverly changed the words of the tune from their previous references to the site of a battle back in Ireland, to the site of the battle that had just occurred in New Orleans. Thereafter, they subtly changed the name of their new song to “The Eighth of January”.
Some 130 years later, around 1945, Jimmy Driftwood, an Arkansas high school principal and history teacher, who had written a number of clever songs, all for the sole purpose of helping his students learn about key historical events, decided to take that old fiddle tune and create an entirely new song. He created the song “The Battle Of New Orleans” by slowing the tune down a bit and re-writing the words to correspond with the old fiddle tune.
Then, some thirteen or so years later, Johnny Horton recorded the song and won the 1959 Grammy Award for Best Country And Western Performance. The song ultimately became one of the biggest selling hits of 1959 and turned out to be so popular that it won the 1959 Grammy Award for Song Of The Year (awarded in 1960 for musical accomplishments in 1959).
Then, almost fifty years later, in 2007, Douglas Holbrook, an attorney and former political science professor, decided to take that same old tune, and again rewrite the words, this time creating a new song, related to the current crisis that our nation appears to be facing.
You may, if you are so inclined, listen the the current version of this tune, that has now gone through quite a significant historical evolution. To do so, simply go to the bottom of this page and play it. For your convenience, the words have also been printed out, directly below.
By the way, if you have any interest in listening to the previous version, namely Johnny Horton's hit song from 1959, it is easily available for listening, on line.
THE BATTLE OF 2008: (Obviously, sung to the tune of Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans”)
[First Verse] If you look all around, you can sense us getting mad,
as we notice that our government is looking aufully bad ! So why not put our heads together, to get this problem solved ? and then do whatever’s needed to get this thing resolved !
Now it’s gotten so bad that we can’t stand it any longer.
We’re getting mad as hell and we won’t take it anymore.
One would think you want elections, without the lies and tricks.
But then if you don’t see a problem, and you think it’s all OK,
then you may not have an interest in what were trying to say.
[Repeat Chorus]
with a little bit of thinking, a solution could be had.
But it seems that those in power/are playing to our fears,
Causing lots of good ideas/to fall upon deaf ears.
It starts with clean elections, and relies upon free speech.
So if you'd like to end this train wreck, then try it on for size,
Cause we can handle the truth, we’re just tired of the lies!
[Repeat Chorus]
If we all work together, a solution could be near.
If we just recognize our power/to get us back on track,
Then we can make it our mission/to take our country back.
[Repeat Chorus]
( Written by Douglas Holbrook: Copyright 2007/All rights Reserved )
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Coalition of independent voters for an informed citizenry seeks to coordinate the political power of non-bi-partisan aligned, third and minor party citizens into a non-polarized electoral swing vote.