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Thread: Eighth of January

  1. #1

    Default Eighth of January

    Let's not let this signal date in American history slip by without honoring Andrew Jackson and his 'diverse' band of Americans who defeated Packenham's redcoats at Chalmette, just outside of New Orleans. Lose that battle and we would be arguing about Boris Johnson today.
    Get out your bowed, plucked or strummed whatever and ring out with The Eighth of January!
    That is all

  2. #2
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    I'm sure the battle resulted in a heroic victory, but the war was already over, so, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't make much difference who won. It was a tragedy really, but it gave us a great tune and song.

    "On December 24, 1814, Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty in Ghent, Belgium that effectively ended the War of 1812. News was slow to cross the pond, however, and on January 8, 1815, the two sides met in what is remembered as one of the conflict’s biggest and most decisive engagements."
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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  4. #3

    Default Re: Eighth of January

    My dearly beloved wife's family is supposedly distantly related to General Packenham. A variant spelling of it was her mother's maiden name. When I have the courage to bring it up I have to plan and be prepared for a strategic retreat to avoid a bloody defeat. Either that or grab an alligator and fight another round.

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    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    1814 was a terrible time, but it didn’t stop there.
    Even as late as the twentieth century there were awful, awful tunes still invading the OldTime tradition.

    [For anyone who doesn’t know me I love OldTime... but I hate myself...because I’m English]

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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    1. So who's heard the Canadian/British "answer song" to Jimmy Driftwood/Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans? Battle of Queenston Heights "enjoyed" some airplay here in the 1950's; it really, really sucks, but here it is, as sung by, yes, The Chums:



    2. What I'd really like to know is, how did the fiddle tune Eighth of January get associated with the Battle of New Orleans, which of course took place on January 8? Did Jimmy Driftwood notice the coincidence, and write words to a pre-existing tune, called Eighth of January or with another name.? Or did the tune get called Eighth of January because it was written in commemoration of the battle? Traditional Tune Archive's article suggests that the tune was originally Jackson's Victory, written after the battle to celebrate the American victory. Others have linked it to an older tune, possibly adapted to honor Jackson. There are other tunes with similar melodies, some from well before 1814.

    Not unusual to have instrumentals written to commemorate particular events: cf. Jefferson and Liberty, for example. Maybe they originally had words, but only the melody has survived. In any case, the fact that there may be a trad fiddle tune named after the Battle of New Orleans –– to which Driftwood wrote words more than a century later -- has piqued my interest for a long time.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

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    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    As a loyal Canadian, happy for the victory at Queenston Heights, I can only say, "That song was really bad." And to paraphrase eightmoremiles, Lose that battle and we Canadians would be arguing about Joe Biden today. Oh -- we are anyway. We're Canadians, with a really good viewpoint of the American situation.

    (added: I mean viewpoint in the literal sense of a good point to view the situation, not in the sense of a good intellectual viewpoint.)
    Last edited by Ranald; Jan-09-2022 at 4:53pm.
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Here’s Halley’s Comet by Vincent Broderick, wonderful tune.
    https://thesession.org/tunes/15006

    I play it to commemorate the defeat of the dinosaurs.
    Our mammalian history goes back 66 million years.

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    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Quote Originally Posted by eightmoremiles View Post
    Let's not let this signal date in American history slip by without honoring ...
    Elvis Aaron Presley, born January 8, 1935.


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  14. #9
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    And for some mandolin:

    If the links don't work, search YouTube for "Homer and Jethro/Camp Cucamunga" to the tune of "Eighth of January." I tale no responsibility for the lyrics.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mG...nel=pappyredux

    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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  16. #10

    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post
    I tale no responsibility for the lyrics.
    Neither did Jethro.

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    Ranald 

  18. #11
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Here’s the weather forecast for Christmas 1814 but for London. Heavy fog. Extremely cold, The River Thames froze over, so I imagine after the battle ‘in the colonies’ the ground probably remained frozen til April…
    https://www.geriwalton.com/winter-of...fog-and-frost/

    Here’s another tune that might go with 8th January:
    Cold and Frosty Morning.
    https://thesession.org/tunes/6467

  19. #12

    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Quote Originally Posted by Simon DS View Post
    Here’s another tune that might go with 8th January:
    Cold and Frosty Morning.
    That one is said to be from the Battle of Culloden Moor on the 16th of April 1746. It was the end of the Jacobite Rising in Scotland. There is some dispute of that however.

  20. #13
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post
    ... "Homer and Jethro/Camp Cucamunga" to the tune of "Eighth of January." I tale no responsibility for the lyrics.
    Yikes! I actually remember hearing this on NYC-area AM radio at least 2 or 3 times, back in '59, probably just before the long-play wax cylinder gave out. 12-year-old me thought it was the height of great humor!
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
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  22. #14
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Yeah, the Homer & Jethro parody got some airplay around here soon after Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans was a Top 40 hit (#1 Billboard in 1959, I think). I also remember radio play of their parodies of How Much Is That [Hound Dog] In the Window? and Movin' On. I think Battle of Kookamonga was probably their biggest "crossover" song, getting into the pop charts.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  23. #15
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Quote Originally Posted by EdHanrahan View Post
    Yikes! I actually remember hearing this on NYC-area AM radio at least 2 or 3 times, back in '59, probably just before the long-play wax cylinder gave out. 12-year-old me thought it was the height of great humor!
    I heard it in the 60's while in my mid-teens. A friend's father had a collection of comedy records that we listened to. My gang of boys used to sing this song, and we too found it hilarious. Makes me squirm a bit these days, though the old earworm of a chorus still works its way out my mouth at random. As for Homer & Jethro's Corn Flakes commercials --- Cringe --- was that kind of racial stereotyping really acceptable on mainstream TV when I was a kid? (I had a book of H&J's "Cornfucious" jokes.)
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  24. #16
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Here’s another massacre tune, Ap Shenkin or The Tempest.

    4,500 years ago they began dusting their crops with powered sulphur.
    Yep, this time it was the Ancient Sumerians vs. The Insects.


    https://thesession.org/tunes/8169 and https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Ap_Shenkin

  25. #17
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    As I heard it, yes, Jimmy wrote the words to an existing tune. There is also the 28th of January, which is another great tune. No words that I know of.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  26. #18
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    Default Re: Eighth of January

    Came across this on the Library of Congress website ( https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/january-08/ ):

    A traditional fiddle tune commemorating the event came to be known as “Jackson’s Victory” or “Eighth of January.”

    Listen to a version of this tune played on fiddle and guitar by Bill and Jessie Robinson in the collection Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to 1941.
    Performed by Bill Robinson, fiddle, and Jesse Robinson, guitar; Recorded at Visalia FSA Camp, August 30, 1941. Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to 1941. American Folklife Center
    In the 1940s, ethnographers Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin collected several versions of “Eighth of January” from migrant workers who had left the dust bowl of Oklahoma to work in California. It was a favorite tune for square dancing. Search the collection on the terms eighth of january for several more versions of the tune and one version of the words to the song as recalled by Mrs. Mary Sullivan.

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