We listened to and disussed this murderous sea shanty in the Kitely session on "Talk Like A Pirate Day".
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
Drink and the devil had done with the rest.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike,
The bosun brained with a marlinspike,
And cookey's throat was marked belike,
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing den.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
Fifteen men of the whole ship's list.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The skipper lay with his nob in gore,
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore,
And the scullion he was stabbed four times four.
And there they lay, under soggy skies,
Dripped all day long in up-staring eyes.
At murk sunset and at foul sunrise.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead,
Or a yawning hole in a battered head,
And the scuppers' gut with a rotting red,
And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes,
All lookouts clapped on paradise.
All souls bound just contrarywise.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of 'em good and true.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold,
With a ton of plate in the middle hold,
And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
And there they lay that took the plum,
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb.
While we shared all by the rule of thumb.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
Drink and the devil had done with the rest.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight,
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight,
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! And a fare-ye-well!
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell.
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
