I was finally able to find out what the song "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest...yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" means symbolically. According to Geographical, there was a part of the British Virgin Islands where it was said Blackbeard punished 30 crew members by putting them on a small area called the Dead Man's Chest. They were each given bottles of rum to drink, and Blackbeard assumed that they would kill eachother. When Blackbeard came to check on them, 15 survived out of the 30. This is why in the song, they say "15 men"; the fact that they were placed on Dead Man's Chest also explained that part of the saying: "on the dead man's chest..." Because they were all drinking rum on the island, it was put in the song as "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum." The song also continued in some occasions as: "Drink and the devil had done for the rest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" This part meant that once they drunk, they would fall into temptation and eventually kill eachother.
If you don't believe me, look at these reference sites: http://everything2.com/title/Fifteen+Men+on+a+Dead+Man%2527s+Chest
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?101072-quot-15-Men-on-the-dead-man-s-chest-quot-Explained.
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this reaserach is very helpful, to why they sang those hysterical songs.the site you posted, Andrew, helped understand the concept very well aswell.
ReplyDeletei had no idea what the song meant, but it was good to see you do some outside research, and it actually makes sense why the song was sung.
ReplyDelete-chris
I liked that you found ou the meaning of the song, i feel like i learn more and more from your posts :)
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