The INSANE Story Of Pirates Of The Caribbean's Soundtrack

Turns out, Hans Zimmer was behind it all along.

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[CharlesCornellStudios]

Now I want to know what an Alan Silvestri Pirates soundtrack would've sounded like. Imagine it was just the Avengers theme lmao

[kmart]

Under a band teacher who is now retired, each graduating class from my high school got a song that they're practice for all 4 years and would be performed at graduation, my class got the PoTC theme. We also graduated in like an open air orchestra stage....often referred to as a shed for some reason. Anyway the breeze during graduation was blowing just right with the dynamics of the song so all that together... it just holds a really special place in my heart.

[gubbinsly]

I swear, every time I hear the theme I’m ready to go swashbuckling across the seven seas.

[joonasneumann]

6/8 crying in the background while 4/4 gets all the credit again...

[redthorpe]

Learning that a composer has resused their own phrasts/structures doesn’t disappoint me...
John Williams has been doing it for decades, and I still love it.

There is no question: If it works, write it!

[AdamHaycee]

I've seen Hans live a few times with his orchestra. The cello intro to "He's a pirate" (I forget the name of the cello player) is brilliant. It sounds drunk and really captures the feeling of a pirate stumbling across the stage, rum in hand

[awintory]

The connective tissue between PIRATES and GLADIATOR doesn't stop there. So many scores dancing around the same idea. Go listen to DROP ZONE, the track "Too many notes, not enough rests" around 2:00 and you can hear one of the earlier iterations of this. More found in CRIMSON TIDE, BLACK RAIN, BACKDRAFT, THE PEACEMAKER etc.

For me it's a signature, not a lift. It's him being him.

[adamlefevre]

Remember, if you're good enough, it's not plagiarism, it's inspiration. and if you're ripping off your OWN work, it's called a style😂

[morayonkeys]

One of my favourite cues from the first Pirates film is the first sword fight between Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in the blacksmith's shop. It's a really fun swashbuckling cue, with a lot of "Mickey Mousing" of musical stabs following the swordplay, and the story of how it came to be is even more fun. According to an interview with Hans (it's on YouTube somewhere), he'd been struggling with this scene for days and decided to take a break and get out of the studio. At that point the assistant (who'd only ever been making the tea at that point) asked if he could have a go at scoring the scene. When Hans got back, he claims he listened to the cue and turned to the assistant and simply told him "OK, you've made your last cup of tea". You might have heard of that assistant as he's done pretty well since then - Ramin Djawadi!

[TheWorldMemeDatabase]

No fewer than 21 people not named Hans Zimmer contributed to the music over the first 4 Pirates films. Some you’ve probably heard of, like Klaus Badelt, Henry Jackman, Ramin Djawadi, Steve Jablonsky, Geoff Zanelli, Lorne Balfe, Trevor Morris. Nick Glennie-Smith is another one, he along with Geoff are the only ones who worked on the entire trilogy, with Geoff having the sole honor of working on all 5 films (including taking over as lead for the 5th). Geoff’s greatest contributions to the scores include arranging the End Credits music (He’s A Pirate) for all the films, Calypso’s theme in the 2nd and 3rd films, and a cue from the first film called Broadside (plays during the ship chase starting when Barbossa throws the apple into the ocean). It is because of that cue that he got his nickname, Geoff “Broadside” Zanelli.

[jordannedkov]

this is by far his best work in my opinion. I get chills every time i hear the pirates theme. Also absolutely love the Last Samurai soundtrack. Seeing him live and performing all of his great scores with a live orchestra was absolutely insane.

[ScheperOfficial]

My favourite part of the Pirates score is the fact that it is so memorable and hummable. That is something that I really miss in movies nowadays.

[Miksy]

Don't forget Hans Zimmer's most influential precurser to this soundtrack, he scored Muppets Treasure Island only a few years before!

[pgqc]

Between Crimson Tide, The Rock and Gladiator, The pirates soundtrack is Kind of a compilation of past Zimmer work

[PhantomSavage]

So he basically exploited a loop pole in his contract with Last Samurai. It said he couldn't work on another film while doing Last Samurai's soundtrack, but it didn't say he couldn't come up with a couple of core themes and then feed them to one of his top students working under him at his production company.
Genius.

[Emeret.]

Wow 😳, i watched both pirates and gladiator many times, but never noticed that the score is so similar 😅 But when you compared them face to face it became so obvious to the point of having questions like "How didn't i noticed that before?!"
But, speaking seriously, pirates and gladiator have such a different atmosphere, so maybe it was impossible for me to even think about comparing them or trying to find some similarities 🤔

[therockgarden]

Within the Pirates movies, Up is Down is an amazing simple piece that weaves in the theme.

[IcelandsPuffin]

The entire soundtrack of At World's End is close to perfection for me, I adore the way Hans uses and intertwines all the themes of the trilogy!

[awintory]

This story has been a not-so-secret one in Hollywood the last 20 years ... From all I've ever heard, you got these details spot on! Most folks absolutely mangle these 'insider' stories, so bravo sir! :)

[kiasharon]

I love this!! As an African composer new to notation, this rhythm sounds familiar to a 4/4 and 6/8. Most times I use both simultaneously when I compose. It's always fun to watch and read the discussions. I learn so much. Thank you.