Ole Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise,
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eyes.

We held our fire 'til we seed their faces well,
Then we opened up our squirrel guns an' really gave 'em ...well!

Yeah, they ran through the briars an' they ran through the brambles
An' they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

" - Meaning and context.">
"The Battle of New Orleans" (1936)
“

Ole Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise,
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eyes.

We held our fire 'til we seed their faces well,
Then we opened up our squirrel guns an' really gave 'em ...well!

Yeah, they ran through the briars an' they ran through the brambles
An' they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

— Jimmy Driftwood

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "

Ole Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise,
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eyes.

We held our fire 'til we seed their faces well,
Then we opened up our squirrel guns an' really gave 'em ...well!

Yeah, they ran through the briars an' they ran through the brambles
An' they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

" in the context of ""The Battle of New Orleans" (1936)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Jimmy Driftwood" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jimmy Driftwood

About Jimmy Driftwood

James Corbitt Morris (20 June 1907 – 12 July 1998), more famous as Jimmy Driftwood or Jimmie Driftwood, was a prolific American folk songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud".