Jonas Psalter

 

Jonas Psalter
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by James Young

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When Captain Jonas Psalter
Sailed his ship to sea
Anne Bonny kept him company

The skull and crossbones flew
Above the ocean blue
The captain's men where a pirate's crew

The ships they sought to take
Were of the Spanish Main
A gift from Ferdinand of Spain

And though you rob and kill to find your dream
Your crimes are hardly what they seem

Tortuga held the treasure of a thousand kings
So Jonas planned to steal everything

Two hundred men stood guard
Around the fortune's nest
But Psalter's steel slew all the rest

And when the smoke had cleared
And bloody bodies lay
Everyone could hear the minstrel play

Woo woo Jonas Psalter
You've captured every prize
There is to dream of in one life

And so we wonder why
We found you in your bed
With that bullet in your head

Interpretation

Following the discovery of the New World of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain's vast empire in the New World was known as the Spanish Main. Originally applying only to the mainland (the origin of the name, no doubt), the Spanish Main eventually came to include the West Indian Islands and the waters of the Caribbean, which were traversed by the Spanish treasure fleets. Incidentally, the Spanish Main was indeed a gift of Ferdinand of Spain. Ferdinand V and Isabel I, King and Queen of Castile and Leon, chartered Columbus' voyage.

Tortuga is a small, turtle-shaped island ("tortuga" is Spanish for "turtle") near the island of Hispaniola. It was a base for buccaneer raiders until they were thrown off the island in 1691 by the Spanish, who considered the island part of the Spanish Main.

Envious of Spain's new-found wealth, the French and English sent privateers and then buccaneers to strike at the Spanish Main. Eventually, independent pirates operating for personal gain were on the scene as well. Not surprisingly, the Spanish considered all to be simply pirates.

Anne Bonny was one of these pirates. However, as I can find no information about a real pirate named Jonas Psalter, I can only assume that unlike Anne Bonny he is fictional. He may have been based on the pirate Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny's lover, and captain of the ship on which she sailed as a pirate from 1710 to 1720. If so, the similarity ends there, for Calico Jack is never known to have taken Tortuga and it's riches, and he died by hanging following a trial, not by a bullet while he slept (or suicide?). This ending may have been chosen for a more dramatic effect. In any case, the message is the same: fame and fortune do not necessarily lead to happiness. This theme foreshadows that of another song with a name reminiscent of pirates, Pieces Of Eight.