# Pirate Nursery Rhymes / Songs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 26, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256 "2005-12-26T16:12:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/1 "2005-12-26T16:12:08Z")
Sing a Song a Sixpence is described at [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.htm) as being a pirate recruiting jingle. I recall “What Shall we do with the Drunken Sailor?” and “Blow the Man Down” from my youth. Is anyone familiar with other old pirate ditties?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/2 "2005-12-26T16:20:32Z")
“We Be Three Poor Mariners.” [http://www.contemplator.com/sea/mariners.html](http://www.contemplator.com/sea/mariners.html)
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### Author:  [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/3 "2005-12-26T17:11:18Z")
[Ahem.](http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.htm)
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### Author:  [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/4 "2005-12-26T17:22:19Z")
That’s silly and disappointing. I always understood Snopes’ site to be definitive, not spoofy.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/5 "2005-12-26T20:50:19Z")
If it makes you feel any better, it probably **is** true that “Big Rock Candy Mountain” originally was, or was based on, a song sung by hoboes to lure small boys away to be the hoboes’ “punks” (slaves and concubines). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big\_Rock\_Candy\_Mountain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rock_Candy_Mountain)
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/6 "2005-12-26T21:03:39Z")
I am quite familiar with those and other ditties, having recorded 2 sea chantie albums, what is your question?
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-nursery-rhymes-songs/337256/7 "2005-12-26T21:46:58Z")
In Maryland, there’s a group called [The Pyrates Royale](http://www.pyrates.com/) that performs and records many pirate ditties. Not sure how widely distributed they are outside Takoma Park, though. Great fun.