Black Beard the Pirate -- The Robert Newton Chatboard

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3] ]

Subject: Black Beard the Pirate

Author:
Lawrence

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 10:39:45 09/19/04 Sun

Remember that sea-chanty rhyme he recited in the movie "Black Beard"..."There once was a jolly miller, who lived on the river Dee, he looked beneath his pilar and there he sawr a flea...ho ho he he he he..he chuckled in his glee!"
Does anyone know if this was written for the movie or was it based on an old rhyme?

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: There Was a Jolly Miller

Author:
Susan
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 19:16:21 09/21/04 Tue

Good question. I have a hard time getting that tune out of my head too! An Internet search reveals that the song is based on an old nursery rhyme dating back at least to 1716 (so the real Blackbeard could have sung it), but the lyrics in the film depart from the original after the first two lines. It would be interesting to know how the movie version came about.

Most sites agree on the first verse:

"There was a jolly miller once,
Lived on the river Dee;
He worked and sang from morn till night,
No lark as blithe as he.
And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be,
I care for nobody, no not I,
And nobody cares for me."

You can find more verses and hear the melody as well on this German folksong site. (I listened to it in Netscape 4.7 ... hope it works in IE too.)

<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://ingeb.org/songs/millerof.html">http://ingeb.org/songs/millerof.html</a>

The following site gives the origins of the "nursery rhyme":

<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://nurseryrhymes.allinfoabout.com/jolly_miller.html">http://nurseryrhymes.allinfoabout.com/jolly_miller.html</a>

That melody doesn't sound too much like Robert Newton's rendition, does it? Or is it just my antiquated computer that makes it sound so slow and stately? Or the harpsichord that fails to evoke Blackbeard's crusty snarl? It's just not the same without that "ho ho ho ho hee hee," is it?!

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: There Was a Jolly Miller
Author: Trisha [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 20:07:46 03/02/05 Wed I can't tell you how many times I've sung that tune around the house. The first time my hubby heard me singing it, he figured it had to be a song from a swashbuckling movie, hehe. :-) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: There Was a Jolly Miller
Author: Susan [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 20:17:19 03/11/05 Fri >I can't tell you how many times I've sung that tune around >the house. The first time my hubby heard me singing it, he >figured it had to be a song from a swashbuckling movie, >hehe. :-) Ho ho ho ho, hee hee! ;-) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]