Away Rio!

I have always like this song. Here's a creative version of the song by Rambling Sailors. I know some of their music is sold on CDBaby.

When We Were Pirates - "Here's to You!"

"When We Were Pirates" is an upcoming film for which I can find little information. According to wikipedia, the film is currently in pre-production featuring Jorge Garcia, Rae Dawn Chong, Jim Hanks, Andy Pessoa, and John Burke. The plot is about a tight-knit group of friends, bound together by their love for playing pirate, discover that a childhood promise "written in blood", gives them all they need to navigate the sometimes turbulent waters of life.

Jorge Garcia & Sharon Zimmer are featured in this youtube video of a song for the movie entitled, "Here's To You." I kind of like the song. Watch out for the toes about 2 minutes into the video!

Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys

I came across a compilation album of sea shanties performed by a wide array of artists on a CD set called "Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys." The songs are sung by a host of artists ranging from Sting to Bryan Ferry and Bono, representing a variety of genres.


Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski  while working on the two "Pirates Of The Carribean" films,  became fascinated with the lore and fable of the pirates and sailors who ran the high seas.  They hatched the idea to produce a CD of Pirate Shanties performed by rock stars.  With legendary producer Hal Wilner, the CD has some great music.


Today I am featuring a song performed by Bono: "A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates." This song is masterfully performed and I love the instrumentation.

Jolly Roger

Roger McGuinn, formerly of the Byrds, has a great song about the Jolly Roger. Below is a video with the song.  The song is off his 1976 Cardiff Rose album. Sadly, Cardiff Rose didn't fare especially well on the sales charts, but I do like this pirate song. Listen to the music and imagine being a pirate.

If you like the Jolly Roger, you'll like some of the other songs by Roger McGuinn. In a previous post, I mentioned Roger McGuinn and have some songs from his folk song project.

Drunken Sailor Shanty

When I was preparing yesterday's post, Blow The Man Down, I came across the Drunken sailor shanty. We used to sing this as kids when I was growing up. After the initial question of what to do with the drunken sailor, each verse suggests a method of sobering or abusing the drunken sailor. As kids, we always thought it would be awful to shave a belly with a rusty razor.  I think we ended up making our own verses of what to do with the drunken sailor.

I also did some research and found this site which had alternative verses. Now, its uncanny because I realized I bought cd's last weekend from the gentleman in the photo playing the dulcimer on the linked page.  I was at the Renaissance Faire in Irwindale, CA last weekend.

Blow the Man Down Shanty

Blow the Man Down is an old sea shanty. According to The Contemplator's Microencyclopedia of Folk Music

Shanties were originally shouted out, with emphasis on a syllable or word as sailors performed their work. Shanties developed separate rhythms for the various chores at sea - for raising the anchor (which was done by marching around the capstan), hauling ropes, etc.

When a sailor said that a man was blown down, it meant that he was knocked to the ground.

There are countless versions of Blow the Man Down.

Enjoy this version by Roger McGuinn from his Folk Den Project.

More Treasure Island and a Dead Man's Chest

I was thinking about the Treasure Island Movies being filmed and I thought I would provide some links to Robert Louis Stevenson's books to read.  If you want to download, or read the book online here is a link for the Internet Archive and the from Project Gutenberg.  The version I linked to from the internet archive is illustrated by Louis Rhead and has some interesting illustrations.

The initial catalyst for the story was an island map that Stevenson and his stepson drew while on holiday in the Scottish Highlands.

The first page of the book contains the lines for a ditty.

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Stevenson intended the rhyme as a forewarning of the events in his tale.  It was expanded in a poem years later, titled Derelict by Young E. Allison.  Here's the music of "15 Men On a Dead Man's Chest."

Shiver Me Timbers -- or Shiver My Timbers

So, I got to thinking about the new Treasure Island movies I mentioned a few days ago. I couldn't help thinking about the Muppet Treasure Island and the "Shiver My Timbers song."

"Shiver my timbers" was most famously popularized by the pirate Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883). Silver used the phrase seven times, as well as variations such as "shiver my sides", "shiver my soul" and "shake up your timbers".

According to Wikipedia, the phrase is based on real nautical slang and is a reference to the timbers, which are the wooden support frames of a ship. "In heavy seas, ships would be lifted up and pounded down so hard as to "shiver" the timbers, startling the sailors. Such an exclamation was meant to convey a feeling of fear and awe, similar to, "Well Blow Me Down!", or, "May God Strike Me Dead". Shiver is also reminiscent of the splintering of a ship's timbers in battle - splinter wounds were a common form of battle injury on wooden ships ('shiver' means splinter in some English dialects)."

Shiver me Timbers, enjoy this youtube video.

The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

I stumbled upon this video while searching pirate songs. Who would have thought there were Pirates in Canada? The pirate spirit has the ability to manifest anywhere. This song is about a Farmer who just couldn't take life as it was.

I like the teacher's face.



"The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" excerpt:
Well, I used to be a farmer and I made a living fine.
I had a little stretch of land along the C. P. line
But times got tough, and though I tried, the money wasn't there.
The bankers came and took my land and told me, "Fair is fair."
I looked for every kind of job, the answer always no.
"Hire you now?" they'd always laugh, "We just let twenty go!" (Ha ha!)
The government, they promised me a measly little sum,
But I've got too much pride to end up just another bum.
Then I thought, who gives a damn if all the jobs are gone.
I'm gonna be a pirate on the river Saskatchewan! (Arr!) "

Chasing Pirates

Norah Jones has a brilliant song on her album The Fall called "Chasing Pirates." The song keeps going through my head.





VH1 has a high quality version here:
Norah Jones - Chasing Pirates: "The Fall"

More Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

While I was writing yesterday's post, I found this video. I do like this music by Relient K.

A VeggieTale Pirate Silly Song of Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Even if you don't like VeggieTales, this one makes me laugh. I especially liked the part about Captain Crunch.

George Harrison's Buried Treasure!

This is a clip of a 1975 TV show. George Harrison is performing on Eric Idle's (of Monty Python Fame) BBC series "Rutland Weekend Television." This is George many of us have not seen.