Captain Kidd (song)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Captain_Kidd_burying_his_Bible.jpg/220px-Captain_Kidd_burying_his_Bible.jpg)
"The Ballad of Captain Kidd" (or simply, "Captain Kidd") is an English song about Captain William Kidd, who was executed for piracy in London on May 23, 1701.[1] The song was printed in Britain in 1701, and it traveled to the colonies "almost immediately".[2]
Washington Irving's 1824 work Tales of a Traveller makes mention of the song:
- "There 's a fine old song about him, all to the tune of —
- My name is Captain Kidd,
- As I sailed, as I sailed—
- And then it tells all about how he gained the Devil's good graces by burying the Bible :
- I had the Bible in my hand,
- As I sailed, as I sailed,
- And I buried it in the sand
- As I sailed. —
Selected recordings
- "Captain Kidd" by Eddie Trinkett and Howie Mitchell on Golden Ring: A Gathering of Friends for Making Music, Folk-Legacy Records, 1964.
- "Ye Jacobites by Name" by Owen Hand on I Loved a Lass, Transatlantic, 1966 (re-released with Something New on Pier Records, 1999).
- "Captain Kidd" by Waterson:Carthy on Fishes and Fine Yellow Sand, Topic Records, 2004.
- "Captain Kidd" by Tempest on The Double-Cross, Magna Carta Records, 2006.
- "Sam Hall" by May Kennedy McCord, 1960, and by Roy "Wrinkle" Winkler, 1969, Max Hunter song collection.
- "Captain Kidd" by Hughie Jones on Maritime Miscellany, Fellside Recordings.
- "Captain Kidd" by Great Big Sea on The Hard and the Easy, Warner Music Canada, 2005.
In Mormonism
The song was reportedly a childhood favorite of Mormonism founder Joseph Smith.[3] In 1830, the song was adapted into an official church hymn, retitled as "How Precious is the Name" and featuring new lyrics.[3]
In popular culture
The song was adapted for the TV science fiction series The Expanse as "The Ballad of Captain Ashford", a song the character Klaes Ashford (played by David Strathairn) sings bits of throughout the fourth season (initially to his infant daughter; the last stanza as he's being put out an airlock to his death).
References
- ^ "The Ballad of Captain Kidd (traditional)". Cantaria Folk Song Archive. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014.
- ^ Kidd, David. "Captain Kidd Music". Archived from the original on 27 June 2014.
- ^ a b Huggins, Ronald V. (2003). "From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism" (PDF). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 36 (4).
Bibliography
- Bonner, Willard Hallam (January 1944). "The Ballad of Captain Kidd" (PDF). American Literature. 15 (4): 362–380. ISSN 0002-9831.
- Jackson, George Pullen (1951). "The 400-Year Journey of the 'Captain Kidd' Song Family--Notably Its Religious Branch". Southern Folklore Quarterly. 15: 239–248. ISSN 0038-4127.
External links
- Great Big Sea (4 March 2011). "Captain Kidd". YouTube.
- "Captain Kidd (Shanty version from Ubisoft's game "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag")". YouTube. 29 November 2014.
- Schoenherr, Ian (19 September 2013). "The Song of Captain Kidd". Howard Pyle.
- "Ashford's Song". Reddit. 30 December 2019.