Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)

"Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" is the theme song for the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney theme parks. The music was written by George Bruns with lyrics by Xavier Atencio.^[1]

Versions[]

• 1992: The song was parodied in a promotional spot for the Disney Afternoon series, TaleSpin, as sung by Don Karnage and the Air Pirates.^[2]
• 1996: The Pointer Sisters recorded a cover version for the album.
• 2002: The song is featured briefly in the Disney film Treasure Planet. The robot B.E.N. (Martin Short) sings a few bars while aboard the RLS Legacy.
• 2003: The song is featured in the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. A few bars are sung by young Elizabeth Swann (Lucinda Dryzek) in the film's opening. An older Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) later teaches it to Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) while they are marooned on an island. As according to her plan, Jack Sparrow falls drunk and she is able to destroy the rum. Later, when Captain Jack Sparrow once again becomes captain of the Black Pearl, he sings it, astonished that he remembered it.
• 2006: A version is sung by the Jonas Brothers in DisneyMania 4; the refrain "Drink up me hearties" is replaced with "Stand up me hearties".
• 2007: A few bars of the song are sung again near the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. A few bars are also sung after the credits by the son of Elizabeth. The instrumentals and dialogue from the attraction are heard as well in the fade to black after the descent off World's End.
• 2010: Disney's World of Color show briefly plays the song prior to the main Pirates of the Caribbean segment.
• 2011: Brian Wilson covered it in a medley on his album In the Key of Disney, which was released on October 25, 2011.
• 2017: The song was featured in the teaser trailer for the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.^[3]
• 2018: Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland briefly features the song prior to the main Pirates of the Caribbean theme in Adventureland section.
• 2019: A version with alternate lyrics is featured in the video game Kingdom Hearts III in a level based on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It is used to catch players up on the story of the previous film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
• 2021: A playable shanty version was added to the video game Sea of Thieves during their Season 3 launch on June 22, 2021 which brought the world and characters of Pirates of the Caribbean to the game.

Pop culture[]

Sports[]

• 1994: In NHL 95, when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are at home, a stadium organ version of the song is played during the opening faceoff of each period. This is a reference to Disney owning the team at the time.
• 2007–????: NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a pirate ship in the north end zone of Raymond James Stadium. During football games they play the song over the loudspeakers and jumbotron (courtesy of Disney), at which time patrons on the ship throw beads and other prizes into the crowd.

Other[]

• 1982: Orange County punk band The Vandals use the song's melody briefly in their song "Pirate's Life", which is about riding the attraction under the influence of LSD
• 1986: Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett uses the melody as the opening to his single "Take It Back" which was written for the US America's Cup yachting team.
• 1994: An instrumental version appears on guitarist Buckethead's album Giant Robot.
• 2004: The Libertines' song Tomblands on their second album has the lyrics "Fifteen holes in the dealer's chest/ Yo ho ho he was a mini martial man" in reference to the song
• 2013: Smosh covered it in the Assassin's Creed 4 rock anthem video.

References[]

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