A verse of the dreadful song with which on the Never Land the pirates stealthily trumpet their approach —
Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag of skull and bones,
A merry hour, a hempen rope,
And hey for Davy Jones![…] They continue their distasteful singing as they disembark —
Avast, belay, yo ho, heave to,
A-pirating we go,
And if we’re parted by a shot
We’re sure to meet below!J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 2 (1904, pub. 1928)
Background text in the play, in two parts of the act.
In Barrie's 1911 novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 5 "The Island Come True," this is rendered (in two parts) with the verses reversed:We hear them before they are seen, and it is always the same dreadful song:
“Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,
A-pirating we go,
And if we’re parted by a shot
We’re sure to meet below!”
[...] You or I, not being wild things of the woods, would have heard nothing, but they heard it, and it was the grim song:
“Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o’ skull and bones,
A merry hour, a hempen rope,
And hey for Davy Jones.”
Quotations about:
shanty
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.