2.22.2006

Illustration Friday: Song

Meet Elliot. Elliot loved pirates, pirate stories, patches, and more than anything else, he loved saying 'arrrrgh.' Every Sunday, Elliot dressed in his full gear and was pirate of the playground. One thing he didn't realise was that his favorite nursery rhyme was really pirate code. There came a Sunday where Blackbeard himself came and took little Elliot away.



Have you heard that 'Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie....' dates to the early 1700s and was a coded pirate message? Apparently, pirates used this message to recruit crew members for pirate vessels while the ships were docked, specifically Blackbeard's! 'King' in the rhyme refers to Blackbeard, and 'Queen' refers to his ship! Crazy I say!

But then, I did some more searching and found out the whole pirate connection was a joke. Someone decided they wanted to see how fast 'false' information would spread on the net. Well, so much for a great story gone sour. Boo! But I'd like to believe its true!

Previous Illustration Friday entries : simple : chair [chair pt 2 in the works!] : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

19 comments:

Regina said...

Wow! You really had Me going for a minute there! That would have been pretty cool! I love your stories and your illo is great!!

rania said...

It was really convincing! Too bad its not true though....

Thanks for stopping by, CK!

Lee said...

fun story and illo! I love pirates :)

Lee said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Derek Knight said...

the drawing is still mostly awesome, especially since the story isn't all "true" and stuff.

nice.

Anonymous said...

I like your illy! :)

Patrick said...

Nice to know that pirates inspired another artist with the SONG theme! Great illustration here!

Anonymous said...

Arrrrgh! Love this illo, matey!

I was totally falling for that story, you know that, right?

rania said...

I totally fell for the story the whole time I was working on it! It was only when I was writing my post that I decided to search for another site to link to when I came upon the "true" story. Arrrgh....but seriously, do a search and the line-by-line explanation is quite convincing!

Anonymous said...

Great illustration! Hey, we talked about that song in my Chaucer class in college. The "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" was the "subtletie," the centerpiece to an elaborate banquet wherein mechanical (or sometimes live) birds were literally put into a pie and then released from the crust at the table to flutter and flap. Oooo's and aaaaahhh's followed. Needless to say, the subtletie was not about delicious cuisine, but showmanship. I don't know about the rest of the song, though!

Anonymous said...

What you believe is true :) Loved your story and illustration -marries perfectly :)

James Lake said...

Hey not shabby damn it! It reminds me of this kid who always made a sandwich, even when it wasn't exactly appropriate, and then I saw your drawing. Very berry.

juliemc said...

kind of like all the urban legends going around. I get what I think is a legitimate email from a friend, only to find out from another friend that it's a hoax. love the illustration and the story anyhoo.

bee'nme said...

Great design and execution - clever idea for the topic! Love it!

Stef said...

Love the illo! And the fun sharing of stories and hoaxes. :-)

Anonymous said...

Aaaaarrrgghh, well blow me timbers, or something like that ... they should be made to walk the plank...ok, ok, enuff already, great read and illo as always, what a nice take on the subject!

Kristen Doran said...

Love the illustration! My son Harry was a pirate last night, complete with hat and eye-patch. He ran around using his "big boy" voice saying - Yo Ho Ho and Aye me hardies!

Anonymous said...

Did you see the latest pirate movie? It was rated "arrgh!"

sorry, couldn't resist.

Anonymous said...

have you ever worked in wood??? i could totally see your stuff as woodcuts! i mean, like the bushes being one pc and then the boy and then the background... huge huge wood pcs for like props or someone's garden decoration?! and should i say it?! yeah, i think i will-------- i bet if you dabbled in cut paper, your stuff would look AWESOME!! you work in simple enough shapes that all you need is some paper and a good x-acto knife.... and i am sure you can still gocco somewhere in it too! i dunno, i would just love to see your stuff in 3d ;) (of course, i am a tad biased haha)....