Alex Ledante
Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!
The drink and the devil have done for the rest-
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!
So what does this song all mean? Let’s break it down line by line, shall we?
A dead man’s chest is a chest which was buried and then everyone else who dug the hole were killed by the Capitan and first mate, who then covered up the whole mess, so that nobody could reveal the location of the booty later. Pretty brutal, eh? Well that’s the pirate life…
the chorus is pretty meaningless, mostly here for phonetic effect
Now we are told that the drink is partially responsible for the demise of the crew, whether by alcohol related death or just poor choices fueled by inebriation is uncertain but when we assert that the devil has done for the rest, it surely means that they’ve died as a direct result of their wicked lifestyle
We may now safely conclude that everyone who knew the location of the booty is deceased and this treasure is lost; it has literally become priceless (although it will retain an innate value as it could be potentially rediscovered)
Let’s revisit the chorus now. YO is generally understood as an attention grabber, while HO is usually indicative of motion toward, so if the chorus is anything other than phonetic, we might interpret it as “keep going that way”
My read on this song is that the pirates understood on some level that they’d never live to spend their ill-gotten gains before they died by murder or misadventure, yet they rushed forward into that lifestyle regardless. Indeed, this song is a celebration of that mindset. We might conclude from this song that they were less interested in the acquisition of wealth and more focused on the method they chose to acquire it
Why then did they risk their lives for booty they had no expectation of living to enjoy? Whether they were simply miscreants who lived only for violence or were attempting to level the playing field is something I will leave to you to decide…
Very interesting break down of the song….never would have thought of it that way!
I think once you know what a dead man’s chest is, the rest is pretty easy. Keep in mind that I could be wrong. We can’t ask Stevenson, he’s dead too…
Alcoholism in no way brings anything good
Some of the best authors in the world were alcoholics. Same for musicians and other artists, so the world has been greatly improved by alcoholics. It has also suffered greatly from them as well…
The dread pirate Alex has a certain ring, I am just saying.
I’ll be living like a king in Patagonia…
🙂 I suspect you would. Thanks for catching the reference!
That’s one of the most quotable films of all time
It is my kid’s quote from the film all the time. It is one of two films that we all like to quote from. My son Luke, likes to be called Liv now, because he doesn’t like me saying “I am your father, Luke” all the time 🙂
I believe you were a pirate in a former life. 🙂
Yar, I be having the swashbuckling soul for it, I do!
That sounds like alcoholism, or an addiction to wealth and violence.
Partying for the rest of their lives. ?
I hope they believed in reincarnation and hoped they could get back to their chest someday. I mean, thinking all they cared about was having fun, that’s quite sad.
I like the story, though I just see the “devil” as an embodiment of greed.
It seems to me that they realized they wouldn’t have much of a life either way and decided to make the most of what they had. The same thing happens today with gangs…
Who lives by the sword, from the sword and dies. I like the picture very much … maybe it has nothing to do with the song, but it is also remarkable.
that’s exactly what the song was about; the weed of crime bears bitter fruit…
This is an interesting thing, I like this.
glad to hear it tickled your fancy
At least they died drunk!
haha, yes, I agree!!
Cheers to that… fifteen men on.. la la la.. cheers !
we can only hope the poor sods digging the hole were drunk…
Or offer a shot for each of them. that will be 15 shots.
I also like pirate songs. c”,)
I used to hang out with the pirates at faire, learned some of their pirate songs…
If we have this kind of place, I am willing to learn it, too
they were fun to drink and sing with, and we would trade insults…
Very interesting. I like reading articles like this.
I had a request for actual pirate content, as opposed to fanservice
September 19th is coming up. Talk Like a Pirate Day. Har!
Ahoy matey! I be ready to speak like a pirate every day, yar…
Great looking chest, that can’t help but make the story greater.
If the image doesn’t compliment the text, find another image…
I personally prefer the chest in your “Seven Seas WIP”. but I love the lyric analysis.
Paul Rimshot Pallzzola does it again