Blackbeard and Bluebeard and Redbeard, they say
Hijacked a ship and went sailing away
Seaward they scudded and skipped on the breeze
But couldn't find treasure to plunder and seize

And a pirate without treasure is like a monkey
without a spatula...

So Bluebeard said, "Since we've nothing to do
Why don't we paint our new pirate ship blue?
Blue for the poop deck. Blue for the sails
Blue for the rudder, the riggings and rails."

And he sang, "Yo ho ho, let's paint the ship blue
No other colour's as trusty and true
Sure as I sail by the Northern star,
blue's the most beautiful colour. Arrrr!"

Redbeard spoke up, saying, "Aye, but instead
wouldn't she rather we painted her red?
Red for the cannons and the sodey-pop kegs
Red for our eye-patches, parrots and pegs."
(Parrot): Rawk! Pegleg.

And he sang, "Yo ho ho, nothing's quite like red
It's fearsome and fiery and fills men with dread
Sure as I sail by the Northern star,
red's the most radiant colour. Arrr!"

Well, then, "Blackbeard said, "Blimey! You're both off the track.
Let's paint it something more handsome, like black."
"Blue!" shouted Bluebeard, and Redbeard yelled, "Red!"
Blackbeard said, "Black! Are you cracked in the head?"

And he sang, "Yo ho ho, give me deep, dark black
from starboard to port, from the front to the back.
Sure as I sail by the Northern star,
black's a spectacular colour. Arrr!"

So then Redbeard grabbed brushes and buckets and paints
Over his shipmates insistent complaints.
Rather than letting him paint the ship red,
They got some blue paint and black paint instead.

Swiftly the three of them painted their boat,
each a completely dissimilar coat,
Making a colour not red, black or blue;
Mixing, instead, an entirely new hue.

Well, that was the last that was seen of the three
Simply because they refused to agree.
They weren't torpedoed or shelled or harpooned.
They just disappeared, for their ship was marooned.

And sometimes on a foggy night at sea,
you can still hear them singing...

"Yo ho ho and a bottle of pop
We painted our ship from the bottom to the top.
As sure as we sail by the Northern star
(Bluebeard): Blue's the most beautiful...
(Redbeard): No! Red's the most radiant!
(Blackbeard): What? Black's the most spectacular colour!
(Parrot): Rawk. How about yellow?
(Blackbeard, Bluebeard and Redbeard): Arrrr!"