Accordion to Most Sailors

"Oh, a pirate's life is a wonderful life!"

If there is ever one musical instrument that is associated with sailing, you can bet it will be the accordion. When the audience hears accordion music, it sets the stage for adventures with sailors and pirates on the high seas. Other similar free-reed instruments, such as the concertina, may also qualify for this trope; historically, the concertina may even be more relevant, although the average audience member is more likely to recognize the accordion.

Sailors have always been associated with music, since there wasn't a lot else to do for entertainment on a long voyage (a lot of ships forbade games that might be used as a cover for gambling), and music actually serves a practical purpose on a ship: sea shanties originated as a way to coordinate sailors during shipboard tasks. The reason concertinas are particularly associated with pirates is because the concertina was popularized as a small, cheap, versatile instrument in the 1830s, and a lot of popular pirate media is set right around that period because it's seen as the last romanticized gasp of the tall ships before they were replaced by more modern ones.

This trope can come in diegetic and non-diegetic flavors. In diegetic music, it seems that fictional sailors are more likely to pick accordions as their instrument of choice while playing sea shanties. Otherwise, expect accordions to be heard in the non-diegetic musical scores of works featuring sailing, or else only heard in scenes featuring sailors.

Frequently overlaps with Pirate Song. When it comes to Video Game Settings, accordions may be heard in the music playing in Gangplank Galleon, Palmtree Panic, and Port Town levels; Variable Mixes tend to introduce an accordion when the player character is near harbors or ships.

Compare Polka Dork and French Accordion, which are likely the few times you'll hear the accordion in popular media outside of sailing.

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Examples:

Advertising

• In a Pop-Tarts commercial from the 2000s, an anthropomorphic Apple Strudel pop-tart sails on a ship playing an accordion.

Films — Animation

• The Little Mermaid has Prince Eric playing a flute and another seaman playing an accordion while festivities are in progress on the main deck of the ship. The music and merriment are done to celebrate Prince Eric's birthday. The crew in general seem to be a cheery and affable bunch.
• In The Magic Voyage, Columbus entertains his mutinous crew of sailors by playing the concertina while singing "The Life of the Sea".
• The Pagemaster has Adventure playing an accordion while Richard and the gang are paddling out to sea upon arriving in the land of Adventure.
• In Peter Pan, a pirate is sitting in the rigging, playing a concertina and singing. Unfortunately, Captain Hook is not appreciative of the impromptu serenade and shoots him in the middle of his cadenza.
• One of the pirates in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists is simply known as "The Pirate with an Accordion".

Films — Live-Action

• Towards the beginning of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on the U.S. Navy ship, Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) plays the guitar while singing "A Whale of a Tale", but he's also accompanied by an accordion.
• In The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Terry Gilliam has a Creator Cameo as a singing accordion-playing man trapped inside the belly of the giant Sea Monster.
• In Cabin Boy, Captain Graybeard plays a concertina at several points throughout the film, including when the crew pelt Nathaniel with beer cans for entertainment.
• In The Demoniacs, many of the scenes in the sailors' cafe have an accordion playing in the background.
• The whalers at the Spouter Inn early in Moby-Dick (1956) liven things up with a concertina rendition of "Amsterdam" (aka "A-Rovin'") after the topic of Ahab puts a damper on conversation.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • The orchestral score for the film series tends to feature accordions, fitting the pirate characters and setting. Notable examples include "Two Hornpipes (Tortuga)", "The Brethren Court", "Drink Up Me Hearties", and "Hoist the Colors Suite". When performed live on Hans Zimmer's tour, the Pirates of the Caribbean medley is the only time an accordion is brought out on stage.
  • More specifically, in The Curse of the Black Pearl, during the "Moonlight Serenade" sequence where Elizabeth first sees the undead pirates for what they truly are, one of the pirates sitting on the capstan is playing a concertina. The instrument's bellows is as rotted and decrepit as the pirates are, raising the question of how it can still produce music.

Literature

• Defied in Das Boot. The onboard concertina of the submarine is crashed during a storm without having been seen in action. Some of the crew's songs are accompanied by harmonica instead.

Live-Action TV

• Roots: One of the sailors on the slave ship plays an accordion.
• In the Star Trek universe, Klingons treat space travel more like sailing than most races, and have acted as pirates. On Deep Space Nine, the Klingon chef owns a concertina and has been known to serenade his customers.

Music

• The Decemberists, whose music generally has a "guitar and accordion rock" flavor, use the concertina/accordion in a lot of their sailing-themed songs.
• The "Drunken Sailor" sea shanty is popularly performed on the accordion.
• From the Norwegian band Katzenjammer, there's the Title Track of the album A Kiss Before You Go. It has some accordion and is played in the mood of a sailing song, and the singers are dressed like pirates onboard a rowboat on the album's cover.
• An accordion can be heard at the end of the Rammstein song "Reise Reise" (from the eponymous album), which is about sailors and sea travels.
• Befitting a pirate metal band, the accordion features prominently in Alestorm's signature songs — one about a suspected sailor not sharing the booty getting slapped with a keelhauling^note a common pirate punishment where a sailor was executed by being dragged across the heel. If they didn't drown, the barnacles would bleed 'em dry and another about being a pirate getting shipwrecked and doomed to die.

Roleplay

• In the Dino Attack RPG "Fifteeniversary" story Pirates of the Tropical Sea, Mary Rose listens to a trio of pirates playing a jolly sailor's jig aboard the Beatrice, with one of them playing the accordion.

Theme Parks

• In the burning town scene of Pirates of the Caribbean, an accordion is one of the instruments played by the pirates merrily singing "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)".

Toys

• One of the LEGO 31109 Pirate Ship alternate models is the Pirates' Inn, which includes an accordion for one of the pirates to play.

Video Games

• Alone in the Dark 2 is set in the 1920s and features private detective Edward Carnby fighting against a gang of undead pirates who became bootleggers. One of the Game Over cutscenes shows Carnby's corpse hung by his feet at the pirates' ship mast, while one of the pirates plays Irish song "Garryowen" on an accordion.
• The music in Jolly Roger's Lagoon from Banjo-Tooie briefly features an accordion, fitting a level populated by seamen.
• A Sidequest Sidestory throughout the original Black & White concerns a group of would-be sailors who need your help in building a ship and gathering supplies for their voyage. Every time they entreaty you for help, they do so with a song backed by accordions.
• Blue Resort from Bomberman 64.
• Bug Fables: The musical theme of Bugaria Pier uses an accordion as the main instrument.
• Buddy Simulator 1984: The theme for the Palchum Docks has an accordion playing in a "Yo ho ho" rhythm, which is replaced by a more frantic accordion when you get into battle.
• The first track of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is set on a beach and features a shipwreck. If driven throught it, the Variable Mix kicks in, and the track music changes to accordion.
• "Gangplank Galleon" from Donkey Kong Country opens with an accordion jig to suit the battle aboard a pirate ship. It was brought back as "Snakey Chantey" in the even more pirate-themed sequel Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, where it plays in levels taking place aboard pirate ships.
• Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has "Sea Winds and Travelers", the Port Town theme, with a melody featuring an accordion and flute duet.
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Despite having a pirate motif, Foxy and his various counterparts never had an instrument or prop of his own throughout the series, apart from his signature hook hand. The trope is finally played straight as of the release of the sixth game; Rockstar Foxy — the newest incarnation of the character in-universe — now gets his own instrument in the form of a purple accordion, along with his very own Pirate Parrot.
• A Hat in Time uses accordions in Bon Voyage! and Ship Shape, the music tracks used for the Arctic Cruise chapter taking place aboard a cruise ship. The Variable Mix for the Spaceship also features accordions when Hat Kid is in the room with the Arctic Cruise telescope.
• Used in a variety of LEGO video games to represent the LEGO Pirates theme. Typically, in these crossover games, the accordion is notably only heard in pirate-themed locations and levels, and absent from the rest of the soundtrack.
  • LEGO Chess: Captain Redbeard's leitmotif, as heard in the story mode cutscenes and Pirate-themed chess board music, features an accordion melody.
  • LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed: The Pirate-themed Palmtree Panic music tracks "SAND 01" and "SAND 02" feature an accordion.
  • LEGO Racers: Captain Redbeard's intro theme has an accordion melody, while the Port Town level Imperial Grand Prix music features an accordion in the harmony.
  • LEGO Soccer Mania: The "tied" and "losing" variations of the Pirates music prominently feature accordion melodies, while it's relegated to a more harmonic role in the "winning" variation.
  • LEGO Universe: The Pirate Camp music, as well as its sped-up Cannon Cove Shooting Gallery remix, features an accordion playing part of the melody of a traditional Irish jig.
• The main theme of the Moby Dick flash game series.
• Crazy Cannonade, a pirate themed level from Pac-Man World features an accordion in the background music.
• The Pale Beyond: The Temperence's carpenter, Grimley, owns an accordion, which he uses to play songs for the rest of the crew — including songs disparaging the Player Character Shaw. The player can choose to punish this insubordination by smashing the accordion, enraging the crew.
• In Sea of Thieves, a pirate-themed game, one of the items you can use is an accordion, meaning that you can hunt for treasure and hang out on your ship while playing sea shanties on your accordion.
• A Short Hike invokes this trope with the boat minigame which has an accordion in its dedicated track you can hear only if you go fast enough.
• Sid Meier's Pirates! has this as part of the incidental music. You can also purchase a concertina (period-appropriate predecessor to the accordion) as an item that acts as a morale booster for the crew.
• The Super Mario Bros. franchise loves this trope.
  • Let's start with the platforms games:
    • Super Mario Sunshine has the Port Town hub world Delfino Plaza, prominently featuring the accordion in its music.
    • Super Mario Galaxy has the Beach Bowl Galaxy; while there is no sailing, this trope is invoked by its Palmtree Panic beach setting combined with an accordion in its music. Super Mario Galaxy 2 follows suit with the music for Starshine Beach Galaxy.
  • The Mario Kart series tends to use accordions in levels inspired by Super Mario Sunshine:
    • Mario Kart DS: Delfino Square, a Port Town track, features an accordion in the instrumentation of its music.
    • Mario Kart Wii: Delfino Pier, a battle course themed around a pier, has an accordion melody in its music.
  • The Paper Mario games has some examples too:
    • Paper Mario: Sticker Star: The musical theme for Surfshine Harbor is a variation of the theme for Decalburg, except slower, in 3/4 time, and with accordions among the instruments.
    • Paper Mario: The Origami King: The Variable Mix for Toad Town changes from the fully orchestrated version of most of the town to a quieter accordion-based version when approaching the dock.
  • Pirate Land from Mario Party 2.
  • In Luigi's Mansion 3, the Spectral Catch is a pirate-themed floor. Unsurprisingly, its soundtrack prominently features the accordion, as heard in the Elevator Hall, Grotto Lounge, and Ghost Catching themes.
• In a licensed game of Zingzillas, if you select the accordion to play, you will end up with a Pirate Song.

Web Videos

• The Guild had plenty of this when Codex worked at a pirate-themed restaurant.
• This erm... "unique" Pirate ASMR video by The Most Ever Company opens with an awkward jig tune performed on what sounds like a cheap keyboard replica of a concertina, replete with the sound of a limping wooden leg.

Western Animation

• In Captain Pugwash, Tom The Cabinboy is an expert concertina player, and part of his repertoire is "The Trumpet Hornpipe" (a.k.a. the Captain Pugwash theme).
• In the Duck Dodgers episode "Shiver Me Dodgers", when Dodgers and The Cadet (along with The Martian Commander) infiltrate some Space Pirates, The Cadet keeps the crew distracted by singing some pirate songs while playing the accordion.
  Dodgers: Looks like The Cadet will keep Long John Stupid busy for hours.
  Martian Commander: He knows that many bawdy pirate songs?
  Dodgers: You should of heard him at last years Christmas party.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • In "The Ballad of Badbeard", the kids get told about the legendary pirate Badbeard in the form of a song, which starts with Buford pulling a concertina out of Hammerspace to start it.
  • The song about the "Shark of Danville Harbor", which is a sea-shanty, includes a concertina player.
• The Octonauts: The Octopod is seen as a ship, and Captain Barnacles is occasionally seen playing the accordion (and sounding awful).
• In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, whenever Sea Hawk sings a sea shanty(or begins to sing one and is interrupted) accordion music can be heard in the soundtrack.
• Silly Symphonies: In the beginning of "King Neptune", a group of pirates was shown sailing across the seas and singing, before they notice a group of mermaids to kidnap. During their song, one of them was shown playing a concertina.
• The Simpsons: In Bart the Fink, Krusty has faked his death and while looking for him, Bart and Lisa encounter Handsome Pete, a lookalike at the docks who plays the "Sailor's Hornpipe" on the accordion and dances for nickels. As they leave, Bart tosses a coin into his cup.
  Sea Captain: Not a quarter! D'arr! He'll be dancing for hours!
• In SpongeBob SquarePants, many scenes involving the swashbuckling Mr. Krabs are scored by accordions, with this production track of "Drunken Sailor" being a prime example.
• Total Drama World Tour: In the episode "Newf Kids on the Rock," the contestants have to sing while rowing to the Newfoundland shore. Alejandro starts out the song, a pastiche of sea shanties, by playing an accordion.

Real Life

• As a girl the Inuit author Anauta Blackmore was gifted an instrument that she describes as an accordion, and at least beginning instruction in how to play it, by a visiting sailor.

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