Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, Act 2 (1904, pub. 1928)

Dave — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 05:13:11 +0000

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.”

WIST Quotations

Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, Act 2 (1904, pub. 1928)