The Les Humphries Singers were better known in Europe than the USA, but the one song of theirs that sticks in my mind is their 1972 hit “Mexico”.
It is actually an adaptation of the song “The Battle of New Orleans”, written by musician and school teacher Jimmy Driftwood (James Corbitt Morris) in 1936 to get his pupils interested in history, and popularised in 1959 by Johnny Horton.
There have been many versions of the original country-folk song, using the original title, but they appear to be have been mainly known in the United States.
The German-based multinational ensemble Les Humphries Singers, with their English leader Les Humphries, popularised the story, the lyrics and the melody internationally – apparently even going so far as to violate copyright when they credited the song to Humphries.
In any case, this is the only version I had ever heard until researching this just now.
I never knew the whole lyrics, just scraps of them – like “the British kept a comin” and “down the Mississipi to the Gulf of Mexico… Mexico… Mexico…”.
Definitely rousing stuff, especially when sung by a large group of people.
So here are the Les Humphries Singers singing “Mexico” in 1972:
And by way of contrast, this is Jimmy Driftwood singing the original “The Battle Of New Orleans”:
Actually, Jimmy Driftwood (sometimes Jimmie Driftwood), who wrote over 6,000 folk songs, is a pretty interesting character worth taking a closer look at – perhaps more interesting than the Les Humphries Singers…
Paul