We selected a sample from our Pirates category to see how closely the traditional image of pirates matches the modern reality.

• Captain Hook’s Waltz Original Cast/Peter Pan
• Captain Kidd Carl Peterson
• Coasts Of High Barbary David Coffin
• Dead Man’s Chest Pirates Of New Providence
• Jolly Roger Roger McGuinn
• Rollicking Band Of Pirates We Broadway Cast/Pirates of Penzance

Captain Hook is comical, the friendly pirates of Penzance are sympathic, and most of us have sung the refrain from “Dead Man’s Chest”, “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!” But listen to the lyrics of “Dead Man’s Chest”, and you’ll hear about pirates’ axes, knives and bloody victims. “Captain Kidd” knows he’s damned to hell, and “Jolly Roger” features an unrepentant buccaneer greedy for gold. Romanticized, perhaps, but they’re an unsavory bunch of cutthroats.

Still, I haven’t come across any songs about Somali fishermen who turn to pirating vast container ships. I’ll be interested to see how modern songwriters portray of pirates in the 21st century.