The Battle of New Orleans

For other uses, see Battle of New Orleans (disambiguation).
"The Battle of New Orleans"
Single by Johnny Horton
B-side"All for the Love of a Girl"
ReleasedApril 6, 1959
Recorded1959
StudioBradley Studios (Nashville, Tennessee)[1]
Genre
Length2:33
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Jimmy Driftwood
Producer(s)Don Law
Johnny Horton singles chronology
"When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)"
(1959) 		"The Battle of New Orleans"
(1959) 		"Johnny Reb"
(1959)

"The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood in 1936. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical version of what actually happened at the battle. It has been recorded by many artists, but the singer most often associated with this song is Johnny Horton. His version, recorded at Bradley Studios in Nashville, Tennessee,[1] scored number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959 (see 1959 in music). Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1959, it was very popular with teenagers in the late 1950s/early 1960s in an era mostly dominated by rock and roll music.

Horton's version began with the quoting of the first 12 notes of the song "Dixie," by Daniel Emmett. It ends with the sound of an officer leading a count off in marching, as the song fades out.

In Billboard magazine's rankings of the top songs in the first 50 years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "The Battle of New Orleans" was ranked as the 28th song overall[3] and the number-one country music song to appear on the chart.[4]

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[5]

In 1959 at the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards, Johnny Horton won the Grammy for Best Country & Western Performance for his recording of "The Battle Of New Orleans".[6] In 2002, the 1959 recording of the song by Horton on Columbia Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Owen Bradley". Country Music Hall of Fame. 1974. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Breihan, Tom (February 5, 2018). "The Number Ones: Johnny Horton's "The Battle Of New Orleans"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 5, 2023. ...but the biggest single of 1959...had nothing to do with rock 'n' roll. Instead, it was a novelty march...
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2009-07-08.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2008-10-04.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 19 October 2010.
  6. ^ https://www.grammy.com/artists/johnny-horton/13170 [bare URL]
  7. ^ https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#b [bare URL]