Musitorial – A Beaver Tale

musitorial n a mashup of music, musings and editorials, music and song that evokes thought and commentary.  

A soft news item on CBS The Daily Report, August 11, 2025, dealt with the behaviour of beavers (link below). I don’t think there was any ulterior motive behind the story (i.e., no sideways glance to Republican environmental policies).

Once threatened with annihilation by greed (beaver pelts were and are prized) and by would-be land developers, the uncanny and tireless determination of beavers to create water hazards that are the silent envy of golf course architects everywhere, beavers are making a comeback in the eyes of foresters and farmers alike.

The likeness of a beaver seated on its lodge is the longstanding emblem of Parks Canada – indeed, of Canada. It rivals the prairie bison as emblematic of our country. Eagles probably outnumber beavers (they certainly do around here) but as a national symbol of the supremacy of natural strength and resilience, the mature eagle is already spoken for. But if beavers could fly there would be no contest.

Readers of past of my musitorials will be wondering what musical surprise I have in store today, and wondering what it has to do with beavers (with only that casual mention of eagles).

Today we celebrate the history-inspired work of singer-songwriter Johnny Horton (1925-1960), whose oeuvre includes many a rousing, knee slapping, heel kicking, lung busting and genre bending shanties on the hit parades of the 1950s. Horton had multiple successes in 1960 with both "Sink the Bismarck" and "North to Alaska", the latter used during the opening credits of the John Wayne film. Horton died in a traffic collision in November 1960 at the peak of his fame.

But it’s Horton’s hit song “The Battle of New Orleans,” which won a Grammy for best C&W recording of the year, that is my focus today. In the song (as in history), U.S. military resolve resulted in repulsing British forces more or less ending the war of 1812-1814. But I choose to focus on a different event of that war, and of that year.

On August 25, 1814, British (Canadian) troops sacked Washington, DC, including, of all things sacred to the USA, burning down the White House. Of course, I’m not suggesting any such similar action on anyone’s part – I needn’t, for it appears to me that the Republican Party is already doing a bang-up job and likely to burn it down themselves, metaphorically speaking of course.

Why the reference to beavers? Another Canadian invasion?  Let me just point to the tenacity and perseverance of that quintessentially Canadian emblem, whose mission in life is the restoration of the laws of nature and of landscapes scarred by battle.

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Link to Wikipedia article on Johnny Horton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Horton

Link to lyrics of “The Battle of New Orleans”: https://tinyurl.com/bde5k62u

Link to Wikipedia article on the Battle of New Orleans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_New_Orleans

Link to CBS News article about the “reintroduction of beavers”: https://tinyurl.com/49nnbujj