Shiver My Timbers--Don't Listen to the Words!

As both of my regular readers might remember, several weeks ago I thought it would be fun to once again check out our favorite CD from the library: "Swashbuckling Sea Songs." We have proceeded to renew this CD every time it comes up due, because Ben, Janae, AND Alaina love it so much. We keep it in the van, and the first thing said whenever we head out is, "Can we listen to pirate songs?"

 

Ben and Janae sing along to the songs, and Alaina pipes in with an "AAAAHHH" or an "UGH" at appropriate moments. "Swashbuckling Sea Songs" is truly the official soundtrack to our family's life.

 

This has all been fine because Janae and Benjamin don't really know the words to the songs. Sometimes this is quite funny. For example, one of the songs says, "From India to Singapore we've fought for treasure coast to coast." Benjamin and Janae replace "coast to coast" with the nonsense word "Hosten-pazt" (it always reminds me of Hagaan Daz when they say it!). When I asked them what "Hosten-pazt" meant, they replied with "it's just something that pirates say!"

That was a pretty harmless example, but some of the lyrics get kind of grizzly (they are pirate songs, after all). Being innocent young children, though, my kids belt out something quite different from what was actually recorded on the CD.

 

Their favorite song--by far--is called "Shiver My Timbers." When I looked up the actual lyrics, I realized this could easily pass for a gangster rap song, and I seriously started to have second thoughts about letting my little ones hear it and sing it repeatedly in the car.

Ben and Janae's version:

Shiver my timbers shiver my bones
Yo ho-ee bearn
Once in the night with a hose of gold
Yo ho-ee bearn
And they sail the ship cross the ocean bloom
A blood casty captain and a punk of broom
A dark a tale ever bloom
Pizza way, pizza way

Ooga waka ooga waka something not right
There's a icky icky thing's gonna happen tonight
Ooga waka ooga waka sailing anywhere
Funny in the earth

One more time now!
Shiver my timbers shiver my sails
GET BACK ON THE RAILS!

As you can see, this is complete and utter nonsense. What is a "hose of gold"? a "punk of broom"? or a "pizza way"? Why would pirates say "funny in the earth" or "get back on the rails"? None of it makes sense!

 

BUT, the "hose of gold" is actually "Secrets that sleep with old Davy Jones"; the "punk of broom" is a "cut-throat crew," and the "pizza way" is a "piece of eight." "Funny in the earth" is "murder in the air" and--worst of all--"get back on the rails" is a substitute for "Dead men tell no tails."

UGH.

Now you might be thinking, "What does it matter? It's all in good fun as long as the children don't know the real words!"

But, now that we've been listening to the CD for a while, Benjamin (who has now almost completed kindergarten) is starting to realize that they don't have the words quite right.

The other day we were driving along and Janae was shouting out "GET BACK ON THE RAILS" when Ben interrupted her.

"Janae, you're singing it wrong."

I don't know if they heard the GASP from the driver's seat.

Ben explained, in an exasperated voice, "It says GET BACK TAILS NO TAILS!"

That was a close one.

But it started me thinking--we definitely need to take that CD back to the library! I don't really want my children to grow up to be pirates :)