#itlapd

Captain Flint + shouting orders

Well since you asked so nicely, how about this: Today You Learned some more about "Hoist the Colours" from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End!

So for context, if you don't know, in the movie this song is sung by pirates when the Brethren Court (the international body of pirates, inspired by the real-life Brethren of the Coast) is meant to meet. Basically, among pirates, the song spreads around, and those in the know (and specifically, the nine Pirate Lords) hear it and head towards Shipwreck Cove for the gathering of pirates.

Now, obviously this wasn't a real thing. But it was inspired by...also not a real thing. Basically, there was a story/rumor floating around claiming that the song "Sing a Song of Six Pence" was (or was derived from) a song that Blackbeard's crew sang when they got to port, as a way to let people know he was in town and was recruiting crew members. Snopes published an article debunking this.

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, two of the screenwriters for the series, had read the article, and feeling a bit bummed that the story wasn't true, thought, "we decided to make it true" and wrote it into the story.

Notably, the song's lyrics are vaguely veiled references to parts of the backstory and worldbuilding revealed in the movie. Like, "The king and his men stole the queen from her bed/and bound her in her bones" is obviously an allusion to the First Brethren Court, with its Pirate King and Lords, catching Calypso by surprise (using information from her lover, Davy Jones, hence "in her bed"), binding her in human form rather than letting her roam as a goddess.

And so on, and so forth. Though you probably already knew that bit.

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I’ve messaged the usual suspects on FFN but I thought I’d offer the challenge here as well, in case some of you who no longer utilize FFN also wish to take part.