[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_JeKZd9ecE]
WRITER: Traditional
YEAR WRITTEN: late 18th century
HOW YOU PROBABLY KNOW THIS TUNE: A cheerful melody often accompanying scenes involving sailing ships, cheerful sailors, and friendly pelicans. And a demographic of a certain age will remember the tune as the opening credits music from Popeye.
IN THE NAVY: One of the rituals of life aboard a ship of the late-18th-century Royal Navy — along with the disciplinary floggings and daily rations of rum — was a form of dance called the hornpipe. Accompanied by music played on tin whistle, fiddle, or squeezebox, these stiff-backed dances were part entertainment and part exercise (with moves inspired by their maritime duties); officers also thought these routines could help calm nerves before battle and bolster crew morale. First published as “The College Hornpipe,” the bright and jaunty tune now widely known as “The Sailor’s Hornpipe” has become the music of His (or Her) Majesty’s fleets.
MEMORABLY USED IN … The Popplers jingle from Futurama
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOAS-g5EXUo]
LIST: The All-TIME 100 Songs