MAY 30, singable satire: War of 1812 revisited -- "THE PRATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS"

 

ORIGINAL PARODY-LYRICS

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS: "The Battle of New Orleans" by Jimmy Driftwood, 1958, was one of many songs that interpreted historical events in a manner that appealed to young students. It became a popular cover by Johnny Horton in 1959, topping the charts in North American and even in the UK. 

The United States 1812-1815

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, February, 2013. Giorgio's recounting of the historical events, and his attempt to set the record straight was posted on the parody -lyrics website "AmIRight" in 2013 as "The Prattle of New Orleans" .

UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of updated blog-posted satirical spoofs can now be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" with chord-charts for both the parody and original song, as well as helpful performing suggestions. 

To find ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "THE PRATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS" on your favorite instrument, click HERE. 

Jimmy Driftwood with 
his signature home-made guitar

the original recording

battle-site map

Andrew Jackson ("Old Hickory")
 leading troops to victory

THE PRATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

(to the tune of "The Battle of New Orleans")

As a hist’ry buff, I thought that I should delve,

Into some stated details ‘bout the War of 1812.

’Cause before the BP oil-spill and the Storm they called Katrin’,

Was a diff’rent kind of battle near the Town of New Orleans.

Hup 2,3,4; Hup 2,3,4

I’d heard of Laura Secord, and the White House getting torched,

And a bit of British Caribbean forces getting zorched.

I checked it with my Southern spouse, her knowledge too was pale,

But we both knew Jimmy Driftwood’s folksy song could tell the tale.

We knew by heart the Johnny Horton version,

With the poor alligator that got used as cannon-bore:

It topped the charts over here as well as Britain,

Though it clearly smudged the history and magnified the lore.

Was Old Hick’ry drinkin’ buds with Jean Laffitte?

And why’d the British bring along so many drums to beat?

And who’d believe the dyin’ words of General Pakenham

Were “you better quit a-foolin’ with your cousin Uncle Sam”?

Did seasoned soldiers turn and do the rabbit-run,

When confronted with backwoodsmen who were firing squirrel-guns?

So I took a couple Beanos, then I snarfed on nacho-chips,

And I googled “Town of New Orleans and British fighting ships”.

 It seems…

The Brits had occupied the west bank Mississip’,

Fog lifted, they got blasted sneakin’ over in their ships,

More leaders killed and wounded as they tried to storm the Town,

So their troops were not a-runnin’, they just stood and got mowed down.

Weeks thence, per Wikiped’, in Feb’ 1815,

The English, reassembled, sailed out east from New Orleans,

They targeted more mischief ’long the coast of Alabam’

(In the hold the rum-soaked body of their Gen’ral Pakenham).

They left Mobile standing when the orders finally reached ’em,

“No territory changing, return to status quo”,

On Christmas Eve belligerents had penned the Ghent treaty,

So the Indies Fleet sailed home across the Gulf of Mexico.

Thus the War that began with maritime embargoes

Seemed a drawn-out pointless offshoot of Napoleonic woes;

If “agreed on as a triumph” on both sides of the border,

It’s the writing and the citing and the singing makes it so !

Hup 2,3,4 x2. Sound off 3,4 x2.....

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MAY 29, photo-collage: mammalian talking heads, H to O

This tongue-in-cheek collection is another post, following up on the earlier series "Avian Talking Heads". All the photos (except for a few noted exceptions) were taken by G.C.

prior mammalian participants

(May 19 -- click HERE): armadillo, basset hound, bison, capuchin monkey, chipmunk, cottontail rabbit, cow, elephant seal, giraffe, goat, gray squirrel, grizzly bear. 

CURRENT PARTICIPANTS: hippopotamus, horse, ibex, llama, moose, mule, naturalist, olive baboon, orangutan.

hippopotamus

horse

ibex (tur)

llama

moose (metallic)

mule

naturalist (Audubon)

olive baboon

 Sumatran orangutan, catching a nap

If you enjoyed this foolish collection (that started with the concept of avian talking heads) you might want to proceed to several more posts featuring mammals, as in today's blogpost. Eventually, there will even be posts featuring other life forms! 

Click here to proceed to mammalian talking heads P to Z.

Or, click here if you would like to go back and review the whole series, starting with avian talking heads.

Talking Heads are a media resource:

Seasoned viewers at breaking news' source,

As in sports, storms, disasters.

But they're sometimes just 'masters'

Who the show-host's weird views reinforce.

Giorgio Coniglio

Readers who would like further information on the subjects, locales or technique of these photos are asked to leave a query in the Comments section. 

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 OR, go back to the latest post on this blogsite ("Elegy to Tom Lehrer") HERE. 

If you aren't on the 'web-version', you can get there by clicking that choice ('view web-version') at the very bottom of this blog-

MAY 28, defining opinion: hone

Authors' Note:  Fawn, an aspiring limericist, had been advised to carefully hone one of her submitted verses.

 

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

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OR, go back to the latest post on this blogsite ("Elegy to Tom Lehrer") HERE.

MAY 27, trees: horsechestnut trees

 

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 

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MAY 26, photo-collage: more Lowcountry miscellany

 This is a followup to our prior post of May 17, 2025.

a majestic great egret

cool oldster at a public dance,
Marine Park, Mt Pleasant
 (under the Cooper River Bridge)

a loaded cargo ship proceeds up the darkening Cooper River.

 

juvenile night heron

TODAY'S POEM (senryu  *) 

Barber's "Adagio" --

string orchestra or quartet

courts the infinite.

 

Giorgio Coniglio

* learn more HERE about senryu, a lesser-known Japanese short poem that shares the physical characteristics of haiku (nominally 17 'on' / syllables in three non-rhyming lines), but deals in a satiric or humorous way with human foibles rather than with Nature. 

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MAY 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 57

 

You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s).

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more scholarly blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE.  

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OR, go back to the latest post on this blogsite ("Elegy to Tom Lehrer") HERE.

MAY 24, lowcountry outlook (three more terse reptilian verses)

 

LOWCOUNTRY REPTILES #4

 

wise parental geese

 advise single-file travel

 on gatory ponds.

 Giorgio Coniglio

LOWCOUNTRY REPTILES #5

five-lined (blue-tailed) skink --

an intelligent lizard

who writes limericks.

Giorgio Coniglio

Readers might enjoy a story told in illustrated verse, dated November 24, 2022, entitled "skink-busting".

LOWCOUNTRY REPTILES #6 

seeking salty warmth,

US crocs, unlike gators,

stick to south FL.

Giorgio Coniglio

You can review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (don't worry! no snake-photos)' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

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To navigate around the 2,000 posts on this blog ("Daily Illustrated Nonsense", or D.I.N.), scroll downwards until you get to a widget with a clickable SUMMARY OF CONTENTS BY DATE displayed with blue fonts -- the most recent are at the top; the oldest at the bottom of the list. Then, just click on any year or month to view the detailed contents.

 

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