"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.
Contents |
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."
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.
- 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."
- 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".
- The "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme ride was expanded into the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), the eponymous sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and finally Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
- The song appearing in Treasure Island was sung by Gibbs at 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"
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.
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.
Books
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson, ISBN 0-451-52704-6
