Dead Man's Chest
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"Dead Man's Chest" (also known as Fifteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest or Derelict) is a fictional sailor's work song or "sea shanty" from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883), and a later expanded poem by Young E. Allison (1891). It has since been used in many later works of art in various forms. It has been suggested that the sea shanty is related to either the Dead Chest Island in the British Virgin Islands or Isla de Caja de Muertos in Puerto Rico.
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[edit] Background
Stevenson found the name "Dead Man's Chest" in a book by Charles Kingsley. Stevenson said "Treasure Island came out of Kingsley's At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871); where I got the 'Dead Man's Chest' - that was the seed". [1][2]
In Treasure Island the full song is not reported. The chorus is given as:
| “ | "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- ...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! |
” |
The book mentions one other phrase of the song, near its end: "But one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five."
[edit] In the arts
- In 1891 poet Young E. Allison (1853-1932) expanded the original lines from the novel (minus the "one man alive" line) into a poem he named "Derelict" and published in the Louisville Courier-Journal.
- In 1901 music was added to the lyrics of "Derelict" for a Broadway rendition of Treasure Island.
- In the The Adventures of Tintin comic book The Secret of the Unicorn ((Le secret de la Licorne), a drunken Captain Haddock sings the song while narrating to Tintin the encounter of his ancestor with the pirate Red Rackham.
- In 1947 sung by Bluto (as a pirate) in the cartoon "Popeye and the Pirates".
- Sea-Goin' Sam sings the song in the WB cartoon Buccaneer Bunny, seguéing into a parody song about "Ma's Old-Fashioned Cider".
- The Adventures of Superman episode called The Golden Vulture includes the self-styled pirating singing the song ad nauseam, to the exasperation of the (captive) Lois and Jimmy.
- In 1967 writers for the Walt Disney film company found inspiration in "Derelict" for the sea-song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" which was played in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme ride at Disneyland.
- The song is used to comic effect in the 1978 film Revenge of the Pink Panther. Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is disguised as a pirate, and, as usual, bungles every aspect of it: his parrot is an inflatable one that spontaneously deflates several times, and he is unable to walk on his faux-peg leg without falling down. In addition, he tries to sing the song but mixes up the words; the song as he sings it reads: "Sixteen chests on a dead man's rum, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of the chest."
- Tom Waits's 1985 album Rain Dogs contains the lyric "Sixteen men on a dead man's chest" and other piratical and sailorly phrases.
- The Beastie Boys use the phrase "16 men on a dead man's chest" in their song "Rhymin & Stealin" from the Licensed to Ill Album, 1986. The identity of the additional 16th person was not disclosed in the song.
- Alan Moore made a play on the song in the 1986 graphic novel Watchmen. In a story-within-a-story, the main character, the only survivor of a ship waylaid by pirates in the open waters, must strap the carcasses of his crew together to form a raft. The chapter is called "One man on fifteen dead men's chests."
- In the 1997 video game Curse of Monkey Island, a chapter in a pamphlet of motivational pirate literature is entitled "How to Get More Than Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest." Also, the first time Guybrush boards the Sea Cucumber, Mr. Fossey can be heard singing the beginning of Dead Man's Chest before he appears.
- In 2000 the contemporary "pirate" vocal group The Jolly Rogers recorded Mark Stahl's arrangement of Young E. Alison's lyrics on their CD titled "Pirate Gold." This arrangement has become so commonplace in the renaissance faire and pirate reenactor circuits it is erroneously regarded as "traditional."
- The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Time Chasers features a riff by Mike Nelson: "Fifteen men on a dead Dodge Dart!"
- In German, the song is known as "17 Männer auf des Totenmanns Kiste", so it mentions 2 more men.
- In Michael Ende's Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver and its sequel, the song is changed again to "13 men sitting on a coffin".
- Mr. Gibbs sings a verse in the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
- In the Klasky-Csupo/Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount Pictures film The Rugrats Movie, a parody of the song is sung by Tommy, Phil and Lil, and Chuckie.
- The reggae band The Gladiators use the lyrics "Sixteen men on a dead man's chest" in their 1978 song "Jah O Jah O" (cover of The Viceroys' "Ya Ho").
- Jack Peñate used the phrase "Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum" in one of his verses in his song "Got My Favourite..." from his album "Matinee"
[edit] Derelict
"Derelict" was a composition by Young E. Allison in 1891, nine years after Treasure Island was published. It is based on Stevenson's 4-line genesis from Treasure Island. "Derelict" is also variously known as Dead Man's Chest, Yo Ho Ho and Fifteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest. It has been so often imitated and derived from that it is often mistaken to be the original song from Treasure Island.
[edit] Notes
- ^ David Cordingly. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. ISBN 0679425608.
- ^ Robert Louis Stevenson. "To Sidney Colvin. Late May 1884", in Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. Page 263.
[edit] Books
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson, ISBN 0-451-52704-6
