Line #103 Main/PirateSong


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9	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/KeyAndPeele https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/key_and_peele_pirate_chantey.jpg]]]]
10
11	->''"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me\
12	We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot\
13	Drink up, me hearties, yo ho\
14	We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot\
15	Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"''
16	-->-- ''Ride/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', "Yo Ho"
17
18	{{Pirate}}s can be a jolly bunch, when they're not plundering and pillaging. It's fairly common in fiction for pirates to sing songs while on their ship, in a tavern, or someplace else, often with lyrics about how they enjoy being swashbucklers. The song will usually be sung in a characteristic [[TalkLikeAPirate pirate accent]], and are most likely played on an {{accordion\|ToMostSailors}}.
19
20	These songs usually take the form of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_shanty sea shanty,]] a type of song that was originally sung by laborers on large merchant ships. As such it can be considered a subgenre of FolkMusic.
21
22	Viking songs count too. After all, both pirates and vikings are seafaring marauders.
23
24	Often overlaps with AccordionToMostSailors, IAmSong, JobSong, and VillainSong. Often featured in [[PirateEpisode Pirate Episodes]]. See GhostSong for more amoral beings singing about what they do best. (Considering the prevalence of {{Ghost Pirate}}s in fiction, there may be overlap between this trope and GhostSong as well, somewhere...)
25
26	Not to be confused with [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil pirated music]]. Nor with [[Film/PirateRadio Pirate Radio]].
27
28	----
29	!!Examples
30	[[foldercontrol]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
33	* Binks' Sake in ''Manga/OnePiece''. This trope is the explicit reason Luffy's insistence of finding a musician for the crew was a RunningGag before Brook filled the part.
34	* ''Manga/CaptainHarlock'' has "We are Space Pirates, the Wolves of Space!" that plays in the 1978 ''Space Pirate'' series, and the ''SSX'' series has several background songs that is about how being a pirate under Captain Harlock is just the best thing ever.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
38	* Captain Gutt's sea chanty "Master of the Seas" in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift'', in which Gutt and his crew try to convince Manny, Sid and Diego to join them.
39	* ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'':
40	** The film has Captain Hook's crew sing "A Pirate's Life", about how they love living as freebooters and criminals.
41	** There's also "The Elegant Captain Hook", which is Captain Hook's attempt to recruit the Lost Boys into his crew of pirates, with a threat of making them WalkThePlank thrown in to get them to comply. It almost succeeds but for [[TeamMom Wendy]], who brings them back to their senses.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
45	* ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'':
46	** The opening number, [[https://youtu.be/8WWdOjxoQro "Shiver My Timbers".]] Although the song accompanies a scene of pirates raiding an island, the song is not sung by the pirates themselves, but by Muppet animals, statues, and skulls on the island. The song is all about the nature of pirates, and as such, it's surprisingly grim for a Muppet movie, ''not at all'' sugarcoating how pirates can be treacherous, ruthless, and even murderous when it comes to making a profit.
47	** Long John Silver's VillainSong, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrj8EZm9ca8 "Professional Pirate,"]] where he tries to present himself and his crew as unfairly-maligned {{Friendly Pirate}}s to Jim Hawkins (and doesn't quite succeed).
48	* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
49	** "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)", is the leitmotif of the series, having inherited the song from [[Ride/PiratesOfTheCaribbean the Disneyland ride]] the films are based off.
50	** In ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'', the titular song is sung by Gibbs near the start of the film.
51	** In ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'', in the opening, "Hoist the Colours" is sung by several pirates being executed.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Literature]]
55	* There is a bunch of pirate songs in ''Literature/ColdObsidian''.
56	* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': In ''Triss'', Captain Plugg Firetail's crew sings three songs, which the audiobook gives shanty-like tunes to: [[https://youtu.be/kwuLz4fZMmo "The Freebooter's Way,"]] [[https://youtu.be/MHZ9rhCXvfA "Dirty Desperate Crew,"]] and [[https://youtu.be/Uo1X9TYuH0Y "Freebooters' Song,"]] about how they enjoy being marauders.
57	* ''Literature/TreasureIsland'' is, like with most pirate tropes, arguably the TropeCodifier for pirate songs, chiefly with the "Dead Man's Chest" sung by Billy Bones. Only a fraction of the song is actually shown in the novel, with the rest being left to the reader's imagination, but these few lyrics immortalize and inspire countless other shanty pirate songs.
58	-->''Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—''\
59	''...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!''\
60	''Drink and the devil had done for the rest—''\
61	''...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!''
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
65	* The pirate-themed ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot The Curse of the Black Spot]]" features a pirate-themed remix of "I Am the Doctor" called "All for One".
66	* ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' had "Lords of the Sea," a jaunty tune in which the pirates explain why they're presently beached. They add a verbal disclaimer to their self-applied title, as a result.
67	-->'''Pirates:''' We're the lords of the sea!\
68	'''Pirate King:''' (Though, technically, next to the sea.)\
69	'''Pirates:''' We're the lords of the sea! Or sort of, of the se-ee-ea!
70	* ''Series/GullahGullahIsland'' has the song "Pirates I Will Be", sung in "Family Day". In "Polliwog Day", [[ToTheTuneOf this song uses the tune for "Binyahlumbus"]].
71	* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' did a song about Blackbeard.
72	* Subverted by ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' in the "Feminist Pirate Chanty" sketch: a group of rowdy pirates sing a bawdy drinking song about [[PoliticallyCorrectVillain informed consent, providing foreplay, being pro-choice, and recognizing that women can hold traditionally male jobs]]. It appears [[PirateGirl the Captain]] shoots anyone who sings disrespectful shanties.
73	* In the ''Series/{{LazyTown}}'' episode "Rottenbeard", the pirate Rottenbeard -- who is actually Robbie Rotten in disguise -- takes the children on a fake treasure hunt and sings "You Are A Pirate" with them. The song talks about adventure, the freedom of a pirate and the treasure hunt.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Music]]
77	* Music/TheFoxyBard usually sings sea shanties and the like as William Morningwood, the Bard's pirate persona.
78	* Music/TomSmith has two UsefulNotes/TalkLikeAPirateDay songs. The first being the official holiday anthem, and the second ("Hey, it's Can(n)on") having fun with the fact that it happens to be [[Literature/HarryPotter Hermione Granger's]] birthday.
79	* "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate " by Music/TheArrogantWorms describes how a down-and-out farmer is lured into piracy in the modern era.
80	-->''And it's a hee! Hi!''\
81	''Comin' down the plains''\
82	''Stealin' wheat and barley and all the other grains!''\
83	''And it's a ho! Hi!''\
84	''Farmers, bar your doors''\
85	''When you see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shores!''
86	* Music/{{Alestorm}} is a pirate-themed PowerMetal band that patterns its songs after these, with sea shanty beats and lyrics about [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=GTyMhv7MCCs the golden age of piracy]] and [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=Od7I54LHTTU warfare.]] And sometimes sillier things like [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=f55CqLc6IR0 stealing beer.]] They have also made {{Cover Version}}s of other famous pirate songs, like "[[Series/LazyTown We Are a Pirate]]", "[[Music/StanRogers Barrett's Privateers]]" and "Wolves of the Sea".
87	* "Immigrant Song" by ''Music/LedZeppelin'', a song about vikings:
88	-->We come from the land of the ice and snow,\
89	From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.\
90	How soft your fields so green. Can whisper tales of gore.\
91	Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.\
92	Always sweep with threshing oar,\
93	Our only goal will be the western shore.\
94	So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins.\
95	For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing.
96	* Music/{{Naufragant}}, named for a book about piratical adventure, previously named themselves Skull and Bones, and had an entire concept album themed after Treasure Island. Youtube user A Pirate's Life has a whole bunch of pirate songs.
97	* "Pirate" by German rock band Kasalla (pronounced "pee-RAHT-ah" in [[UsefulNotes/GermanDialects Colognian dialect]]). It's a popular song for the Cologne Carnival, but it takes the pirate motif and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkiUUyIvZOo runs with it]].
98	-->Pirate - weld un frei - dreimol Kölle ahoi (Pirates - wild and free - Three times Cologne Ahoy).\
99	rette sich wä kann, mer läge an (Save yourself if you can, we're landing).\
100	Pirate - weld un frei - dreimol Kölle ahoi (Pirates - wild and free - Three times Cologne Ahoy).\
101	un dä Dudekopp op unser Fahn (And the pirate skull on our flag).\
102	hät en rude Pappnas aan (Is wearing a red cardboard nose).\
103	* Music/{{ATEEZ}} have created a concept centered around pirates, and their debut single is even titled "Pirate King".
104	* Music/RunningWild is much like Alestorm, but were one of the first bands to take up the pirate image and lyrics. They even have a song actually titled "Pirate Song".
105	* During Music/SiivaGunner's "Talk Like A Pirate Day" event, one rip uploaded was a Music/SiivaGunner-themed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T_VLIZUOXI pirate shanty]], with lyrics detailing a pathetic viewer of the channel who is kept alive only by Music/SiivaGunner (and porn).
106	-->Me internet addiction has fucked up me life\
107	I ain't got no job, and I ain't got no wife\
108	The only thing that keeps me from killing myself\
109	Is porno and memes from the Gunner himself
110	* ''Music/ManOnTheInternet'': "[[https://youtu.be/sP5V6wGlEXU?si=xdchNVS2qgSn0c-I Hand and Eye]]" is a sea shanty with an epic orchestral backing, sung by Music/JunoSongs as [[Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys Foxy the Pirate Fox]]. Foxy initially seems to be singing to his child audience about the joys of being a pirate, and encouraging them to join his pirate crew. However, he says that you can't join his crew unless you lose a hand and eye. At the end of the song, it's revealed that [[spoiler:he actually wants to make the night guard lose a hand and eye by killing them. The song ends with Foxy's jump scare from ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', implying that TheBadGuyWins]].
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Theatre]]
114	* Parodied in ''Theatre/PeterPanGoesWrong''. The pirates sing "Hey for Davy Jones," a standard sea shanty. However, the mechanism for the rotating stage is not working, and the stage keeps rotating between the three different sets (the pirate ship, the forest, and the bedroom) while the pirates are singing. Some stagehands are working on the bedroom set, and when they realize they're on camera, they start awkwardly swinging their arms to the beat to make it look like they're supposed to be there. Eventually, everyone on the bedroom and forest sets starts fighting, creating a lot of commotion that drowns out the pirates' song.
115	* ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' has the Pirate King sing "Oh Better Far to Live and Die", an epic song about how great it is being a pirate.
116	-->''For I am a pirate king!\
117	And it is, it is, a glorious thing, to be a pirate king!\
118	I am a pirate king! ('''Chorus:''' You are, hurrah for the pirate king!)\
119	And it is, it is, a glorious thing, to be a pirate king! ('''Chorus:''' It is! Hurrah for the pirate king, hurrah for the pirate king!)''
120	* The second act of ''Theatre/TheSpongeBobMusical'' opens with the [[IrrelevantActOpener non-plot-relevant]] "Poor Pirates," lead by Patchy the Pirate, all about how you should be more sympathetic to the needs and wants of pirates, because they "arr" people too, y'know!
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Video Games]]
124	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' lets your crew sing various sea shanties while sailing. There are also [[GottaCatchEmAll collectible song lyrics]] scattered about that unlock more songs.
125	* ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'' has three pirates sing a swinging tune called [[https://youtu.be/y9bXjttMxKY "A Pirate I Was Meant to Be,"]] which is about how they're sure they can help Guybrush because they're great pirates. Guybrush wants them to stop because the song is going on too long, but the pirates find rhymes for all his protests and continue singing, until he tricks them by mentioning [[LeastRhymableWord an orange]].
126	* ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'': ''The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds'' has a more downplayed, silly example. The pirate fish Fineas sings a song about how [[TalkLikeAPirate he likes to say "Argh!"]]
127	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': After being absent [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII in the last time]] ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' appeared in the franchise, "Yo Ho" is sung at the opening cutscene of The Caribbean world, with its lyrics reworded to serve as an abridged recap for ''Dead Man's Chest'', which is skipped over for adapting ''At World's End''. Also, [[{{Bowdlerise}} it changes "Drink up" to "look out"]], largely to avoid alcohol references that would raise the game's rating, but likewise turns the song into a warning to all who hear it about the looming threat. Sora himself sings the main line when we first see him after entering the world then hums the rest.
128	* Who can ever forget the simple, [[MemeticMutation yet ever so iconic and catchy]] Sea Shanty 2 from old-school ''Videogame/RuneScape''?
129	* ''VideoGame/SeaOfThieves'' features several, though they're largely instrumental, such as "Bosun Bill," "Summon The Megalodon," and the pirate legend exclusive "We Shall Sail Together." "Grogg Mayles" features lyrics about the legendary Grogg Mayles[[note]]Named after developer Gregg Mayles[[/note]], and with the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' crossover event, pirates who complete all of the related Tall Tales' deeds receive an instrumental of "A Pirate's Life" to play to their heart's content.
130	* When ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' introduced its Aquatic Species Pack, letting intelligent marine life take to the stars, its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUmOnhsdNe4 announcement trailer]] came with a sci-fi cover of the "Fish in the Sea" shanty, with tweaked lyrics and an autotuned singer.
131	* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has a ''space'' shanty in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EtOAaK19bA "Sleeping in the Cold Below,"]] sung by Vala Glarios and her sister Corpus laborers aboard the Lucretia Platorm [[spoiler:at least until it's destroyed by the Tempestarii]]. It also accompanies the battle where Sevagoth's Shadow battles an army of Corpus.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Web Animation]]
135	* Fittingly, Houshou Marine, {{WebAnimation/Hololive}}'s resident PirateGirl, had a pirate song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZL4-f3jRoE Ahoy!! 我ら宝鐘海賊団☆]] (lit. "Ahoy!! We are the Houshou Pirates☆") as her first original song. It has proven to be one of Hololive's most popular productions.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder: Webcomics]]
139	* Chapter 9 of ''Webcomic/WhispersInTheWind'' is named after a song from real band Pat Razket and starts with one of the pirate singing the said song "Pirate's Lullaby".
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Western Animation]]
143	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': "[[Recap/CodenameKidsNextDoorS5E12AOperationLICORICE Operation L.I.C.O.R.I.C.E.]]" has a more grim example than most with [[https://youtu.be/9ejH9RBmV9s "Licorice,"]] [[VillainSong sung by]] [[EvilVersusEvil Stickybeard and his crew]] as they [[TheVillainSucksSong tell the story of a rival candy pirate]] named [[DemBones Black John Licorice]] who was cursed after stealing a whole forest of licorice trees, and how Stickybeard and his cabin boy at the time, Heinrich Von Marzipan, unwittingly invoked the wrath of the cursed pirates.
144	* ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'': As every episode has two musical numbers, and a portion of the cast are pirates, it was inevitable there would be pirate shanties. In this case, "Booty Boogie" and "Pirate's Scorn" are both sung by Captain Skurvy and his crew.
145	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': [[RoguesGalleryTransplant Don Karnage]] and his SkyPirate crew sing one while pillaging Scrooge's plane. The song serves as a distraction, as Scrooge and his family are too confused to fight back. The song shows all the characteristics of this trope, with a sea shanty-like melody and lyrics about plundering, including a lot of pirate lingo.
146	* ''WesternAnimation/JakeAndTheNeverLandPirates'' is obviously one of the kings of this trope, because one is used in every episode. And even the theme song and the ending themes are ones.
147	* ''WesternAnimation/JustinTime2011'' had the episode "It's a Viking Thing" where vikings sing about what they like to do.
148	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' had a Pirate themed episode, "Rabbit Marks the Spot", opening with the song "Pirates is What We'll Be", sung by Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Gopher.
149	* ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' had a pirate song once in "Sea Patrol: Pirate Pups to the Rescue".
150	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Both versions of "Ballad of Badbeard" count, the first one only having the lyrics "Arg, arg, arg, arg, this is the Ballad of Badbeard", and the second being sung by the kids as they're searching for Badbeard's treasure and playing the role of a pirate crew.
151	* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Fatbeard" has Cartman trying to regiment a gang of [[RuthlessModernPirates modern day Somalian pirates]] into cliche treasure hunting rogues through a montage song shanty. It works.
152	* ''WesternAnimation/SpartakusAndTheSunBeneathTheSea'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtBWrAiWBLc "The Pirate Dance"]] which is sung every time the Pirates appear in a scene, being in general a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
153	* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales:'' The original PiratesWhoDontDoAnything introduce themselves by singing about all the acts of piracy and seamanship they've never done.
154	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PirateSong