This morning when my nine-year-old son got up, he buried his nose in a book on the War of 1812, and every so often he shared some detail: “Did you know the British liked to shoot together? They would say, ‘Ready! Aim! Fire!'”  He knew that the Battle of New Orleans was a decisive American victory, and he knew the battle took place after a peace treaty had been signed (but before word had reached the troops). But he didn’t know the Jimmie Driftwood folk song commemorating the event: “In 1814, we took a little trip…”

I wanted to play the song for him, and wasn’t having any luck searching for MP3 samples, so I went to YouTube, and found this clip.

Featuring Legos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWkOeK5AmI8

My son and I burst out laughing during the sequence when the routed British run through more and more exotic locations.

My five-year-old daughter heard the commotion and wanted to join in the fun, so we replayed it for her. “What’s so funny?” she kept asking. “Where’s the funny part?”

She was amused by the gator verse, but when it was over she sighed and said, “I guess little girls just don’t understand what’s so funny about Lego guys fighting.”