“Eighth of January” or “Jackson’s Victory” was played in honor of the defeat of the British that day in the now-famed Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. Actually an Irish fiddle tune, the story goes that on the night of January 8, 1815, a group of soldiers renamed the tune after what was seen at the time as a resounding and pivotal battle in the war against the British. Sadly, none of the soldiers knew that the battle of January 8 was completely unnecessary, as the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, had been signed on December 24, 1814. The popularity of the tune, however, was cemented in the musical lexicon of the day.
In 1936, Jimmy Driftwood, a high school teacher in Arkansas, slowed down the tune considerably and used it as the basis for a song he wrote to help teach his students about the War of 1812. That song was “The Battle of New Orleans” which, when recorded by Johnny Horton in 1959, became the number one song on both the Pop and Country Charts for six weeks (May 31 – July 11 1959.)
Fascinating man, that Jimmy Driftwood. Here’s to you on January 8, 2012.
(Oh, and btw - Happy Birthday, Elvis)
