Many people seem to think that the main Pirates of the Caribbean theme is Jack’s theme, due to the famous “He’s a Pirate” song from the first movie’s score.
In fact, “He’s a Pirate” is the main musical theme that represents piracy in these movies on the whole, as evidenced by its prominent featuring elsewhere in the score. One of the other pieces from the score that is heavily built on and representative of the same theme is “Will and Elizabeth,” also from the first movie’s score, which actually has an audial clue directly to Jack’s actual theme - not through its sound, but rather by the pieces of the main theme which appear to be missing. These correlate exactly to notes and harmonies presented in Jack’s actual thematic element.
Musically speaking, Jack Sparrow does not have a theme of his own until the second Pirates movie, but rather than being constructed specifically on “He’s a Pirate,” we hear a different element of inspiration in “Jack Sparrow.” Composed by Hans Zimmer as the main theme for the character Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, several elements of Klaus Badelt’s masterful scoring from Black Pearl were used to represent this beloved figure.
“The suite arrangement begins as an off-kilter waltzing cello solo (used to represent Jack’s drunken demeanor - sometimes referred to as the “Jack Walk”) , supported by double basses. The segment is then repeated more adventurously with the addition of a french horn, and a staccato viola line, before culminating in a reprisal of small theme representing Jack’s silly moments first heard at the end of “The Medallion Calls.”
The track then flows into a cello theme based on the light-hearted jig from “Fog Bound” (which forms the basis for the majority of the track) before building into a more bombastic, adventurous piece. A cello ensemble, french horns and trombones are prominently heard as the main new thematic identity gets a full statement. The lively bombast is intercut with cello-heavy segments as the track progresses through a series of action-heavy phrases.
At the four minute mark, the music begins to build into a new action theme for Jack, often referred to as “The Jack Action Theme”. It begins at four minutes with ascending viola and violin triplets, before exploding into a powerful trombone heavy action theme, with violin and viola playing a fast-paced staccato line and double-bass and cello doubling the main trombone theme. The melody is given a second grander statement, with trumpet, wagner tuba and choir adding further power to the track.The theme concludes with another off-kilter cello solo, before building into a final bombastic action theme.” (http://tinyurl.com/qbg7fht)
When musically layered with the piece “Will and Elizabeth,” we can then see that these movies, at least for the first three, depend entirely on the interplay and interchange between these three characters. From the very first moments of the movie, we’ve known that Will and Elizabeth’s fates are intertwined, and while Jack is not introduced until later in the movie (an introduction scored by a musical theme very similar to “He’s a Pirate,”) we have every indication both from scene cuts and other aspects of filming and story (similarities in camera angles, a mishap that matches Will and Elizabeth’s meeting years before, etc.) that his fate will be intertwined with theirs as well.
It is appropriate, then, that “Jack Sparrow” illustrate the missing pieces of the “Will and Elizabeth” theme, coming together to represent the truth that we learned throughout the course of these movies - they are all a part of each other’s crew, and they are all, without a doubt, pirates.
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