Captain Kidd (song)

Captain Kidd burying the Bible (1837)

"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 CD-16 1996
• Ye Jacobites by Name by Owen Hand on I loved a Lass Transatlantic 1966 re-released with Something New by Pier Records 1999 as PIERCD 502.
• Captain Kidd by Waterson: Carthy on Fishes and Fine Yellow Sand. 2004, Topic Records TSCD542
• Captain Kidd by Tempest on The Double Cross 2006, Magna Carta Records.
• 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, FECD258, Fellside Recordings Ltd., PO Box 40, Workington, Cumbria CA14 3GJ UK, www.fellside.com.

References

Footnotes

1. "The Ballad of Captain Kidd (traditional)". Cantaria Folk Song Archive.
2. Kidd, David. "Captain Kidd Music". Archived from the original on 2014-06-20.

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

• Video of Captain Kidd as performed by Great Big Sea
• Kidd, David (2012). "Captain Kidd's Music, the history of a melody". Archived from the original on 2014-06-23.
• Schoenherr, Ian (2013-09-19). "The Song of Captain Kidd". Howard Pyle.