TREASURE ISLAND
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of “buccaneers and buried gold”. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an “X”, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders. Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. (More from Wikipedia)
The other Chris Wilson song, “The Derelict” is even better – it is the “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” pirate song. The original song was made up by Robert Louis Stevenson for his 1883 adventure tale, Treasure Island. Young Ewing Allison, a newspaperman of that era, wrote a full poem based on the short verse included in the novel. Accompanied by a gritty rock band called (appropriately enough) the Barbary Coasters (also from San Francisco), the lyrics are taken from that poem and I believe include all six stanzas. I also have the full CD by Chris Wilson that includes both songs, Back on the Barbary Coast.
(March 2015)
