Sea chanty

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A sea chanty about Captain Jack Sparrow.

A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty, was a work song sung by sailors aboard ships. The rhythm of a sea chanty usually coincided with a "heave" or "pull". Musical instruments might accompany the singing of a chanty, although they were often sung without accompaniment.

History

To pass the time while at sea, sailors often sang songs called chanties, which told stories of life on the ocean and celebrated legendary captains.

"Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" is an old pirate shanty which Elizabeth Swann learned as a child, and later taught it to the infamous Jack Sparrow.

"Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" was an old pirate shanty, notably first sung than a pirate attack on Puerto Dorado in Isla Tesoro. It was also sung at least one night, prior to young Jack Sparrow's adventures as a teenage stowaway, sung by the buccaneers, swashbucklers, and cutthroats of Tortuga was drinking ale and rum as they took up a chanty they all knew at the Faithful Bride tavern. Standing alone at the bow of the HMS Dauntless, sailing through fog in the Caribbean Sea, young Elizabeth Swann remembered the old song from long ago and sung it until she found herself face-to-face with Mr. Joshamee Gibbs, a member of the crew who believed, "It's bad luck to be singing about pirates with us mired in this unnatural fog." Eight years later, the song was sung by Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow when they were marooned together on Rumrunner's Isle, with Elizabeth having told Jack it was a song about pirates she'd learn as a child, which sparked the infamous pirate's curiosity as he knew a lot of songs about pirates, but none he would teach a child. Elizabeth later taught the song to her nine-year-old son, Henry Turner, who sang it as he raced through the high grass atop cliffs, his voice carrying on the wind as he sang the pirate chantey, looking out over the sea while waiting for Will Turner to return after his first ten years aboard the Flying Dutchman. The song made particular impact on Captain Jack Sparrow as he first took the helm of the Black Pearl following his escape from Fort Charles, then later Sparrow sailed on a dinghy for the Fountain of Youth, and years later when the "pirate's life" was referenced by a down-on-his-luck Sparrow prior to Armando Salazar's release from the Devil's Triangle as well as after Hector Barbossa's sacrifice.

Following the second meeting of the Brethren Court, the method of summoning the Court was in the form of a song, with "Hoist the Colours" being created as a haunting shanty, a dangerous song, and an anthem for pirates across the seven seas. One night, prior to young Jack Sparrow's adventures as a teenage stowaway, "High Barbaree" was another chanty known to be sung at the Faithful Bride tavern. During the Sea Star's journey from the Isle of Man to Bermuda the ship's cook, Mr. Hawk, taught his young assistant Billy Turner many sailor's chanteys. Joshamee Gibbs sang the well-known shanty "Dead Man's Chest" while drinking a bottle of rum aboard the Black Pearl, notably before Jack Sparrow escaped from the Turkish Prison. At some point before the quest for the Fountain of Youth, a chanty about Captain Jack Sparrow poked fun at the desperate attempts of the king's men to capture the notorious and elusive pirate, only for the scourge of the British Navy managing to get away.

"My Jolly Sailor Bold" was a sea chantey, sung by Scrum to attract mermaids.

Prior to the battle at Whitecap Bay, as legend had it that man-made light and song attracted the sirens of the sea known as mermaids, the boat was lit by the beam of the lighthouse and the zombie Gunner forced Scrum to sing a swaying sea shanty to lure the mermaids to the pirates. Although Scrum was good with a mandolin, he wasn't a particularly skilled singer. Worse, the only song he knew well was "My Jolly Sailor Bold", a sea chantey written for a girl. He mumbled with a little sense of musicality. Tamara continued the chantey, singing it as a siren song as mermaids began to surround the boat.

Notable sea chanties

• Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)
• Dead Man's Chest
• Hoist the Colours
• My Jolly Sailor Bold

Behind the scenes

Sea shanties first appear with "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" in Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, though the term first appeared much later.

In Chapter One of Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm by Rob Kidd, "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" is sung by the customers in the Faithful Bride tavern, which was also featured in excerpts included in Rob Kidd's Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East in 2008, and James Ponti's junior novelization of the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. However, in the excerpt included in Irene Trimble's junior novelization of the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, released simultaneously with The Coming Storm in 2006, "High Barbaree" is the song sung.

Shanties were subject to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: Six Sea Shanties, a graphic novel which was scheduled to be released in 2011. But since the graphic novel was cancelled, it is unknown if the appearance in the novel is canon or not.

Appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (First appearance)
• The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
• Jack Sparrow: Silver
• The Price of Freedom
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization) (Special Edition)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Movie Storybook
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies

External links

• Sea shanty on Wikipedia