Lonnie’s war of confusion
QUESTION In The Battle Of New Orleans, Lonnie Donegan sings about American troops ‘taking a little trip along with Colonel Pakenham down the mighty Mississip’ to fight the British’. But Pakenham was the C-in-C of the British forces. Did the songwriter get this wrong? AMERICAN folk/country music pioneer Jimmie Driftwood wrote and recorded The Battle Of New Orleans in 1959, identifying Colonel pakenham as commander of the British forces and Colonel Andrew Jackson in charge of the Americans.
The song, Driftwood’s most successful creation, was covered by rising country music star Johnny Horton later that year and became a big enough hit in the U.S. charts to interest Uk record companies.
philips had the rights to release it in the Uk, but was concerned that a song that glorified a British military defeat would upset the sensibilities of record-buyers.
ridiculous though it now seems, Horton was persuaded to make a new recording which fictionally re-timed the Battle of New Orleans from its location in the War of 1812, into the American Civil War.
All references to ‘ the British’ were removed and replaced by ‘rebels’. most of the rest of the song was left with the original lyrics. As neither of these wars is a regular part of the normal history syllabus in Uk schools, they could take this liberty without getting into trouble.
Lonnie Donegan was the Uk ‘ king of Skiffle’, and he turned his attention to Horton’s American hit. He began his version with a comic monologue explaining that the battle and its outcome was one of our more ignominious moments.
He then sang the song as written from the American viewpoint, but in the first verse managed twice to name Colonel pakenham as his (American) commander, when that was, in fact, General Jackson. So both versions that appeared in the British charts were wrong for different reasons. Donegan’s biggest success, my Old man’s A Dustman, spent four weeks at No 1 in 1960. Tex waite, Trowbridge, wilts. QUESTION When was ‘passive-aggression’ first recognised? passive-aggressive behaviour is the indirect expression of hostility, such as through procrastination, stubbornness, sullen behaviour or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish a task.
The term ‘passive-aggressive’ was first used in a U.S. War Department Technical Bulletin ( 1945). It identified passiveaggression as an ‘immature, helpless, passive resistance to the demands of the military’.
It’s not surprising that passive-aggressive behaviour was first labelled in a military setting where soldiers were required to comply with orders from an authority figure.
Singer and Shaw (1957) described a passive aggressive sailor at a naval hospital as ‘surly, complaining, tending to procrastinate and imply that other people are treating him badly’ and discussed how such behaviour affected troop morale.
The military definition — resistance to external demands — influenced subsequent definitions of passive-aggression in the civilian setting. resisting orders and requests from perceived authority figures, spouses, co-workers, parents and bosses is a defining feature of the condition. passiveaggressive behaviour was for many years included in the Diagnostic Statistical manual of Disorders (DSM Iv), the globally recognised catalogue of all medically accepted disorders. The condition is now considered so common and so strongly related to several other mental disorders, that it no longer warrants the status of ‘ disorder’ by itself and was removed from the DSM. It is now so widespread that it has entered the popular lexicon. It is recognisable in a host of small actions, including small put- downs and insults, for example: ‘ I wish I could afford a dress like that,’ doling out backhanded compliments, ignoring calls and deliberate procrastination. Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION My mother used to cook conger eel with parsley sauce. Is eel rare or out of fashion? FURTHER to the earlier answer, my mother and grandmother also cooked conger eel, as do I. It just takes a bit of effort.
It is unusual in that it takes a good 25 to 30 minutes of simmering to render the tough fibres and gelatinous content into an unctuous, firm-fleshed, tasty meal.
It is stewed in parsley liquor (thinner than sauce) made from milk, flour, seasoning and a generous handful of chopped english, curly-leafed parsley. The continental variety — foreign muck, as my mother would have called it — will not do.
Served in a bowl of steaming liquor with creamy buttered mash and peas, it is heaven on a cold night, accompanied with, preferably, malt vinegar and white pepper.
As a change it can be baked in foil parcels with tomatoes, onion, garlic and olives for a mediterranean twist.
I can buy it at ealing Farmer’s market from people who fish the Channel from Weymouth. It can also be had from local fishmongers. Supermarkets do not stock it.
Thom Robinson, London.
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