Captain Kidd (song)

"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.

Captain Kidd burying the Bible (1837)

[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.
  • Captain Kidd by Great Big Sea on The Hard and the Easy 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]

References

Footnotes

  1. "The Ballad of Captain Kidd (traditional)". Cantaria Folk Song Archive. Archived from the original on 2014-05-08.
  2. Kidd, David. "Captain Kidd Music". Archived from the original on 2014-06-27.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  3. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V36N04_37.pdf

Bibliography

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