Badelt was born in Frankfurt, West Germany. He started his musical career composing for movies and commercials in his homeland. In 1998, Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer invited Badelt to work at Media Ventures in Santa Monica, California, his studio co-owned by Jay Rifkin. Since then, Badelt has been working on a number of his own film and television projects such as The Time Machine and K-19: The Widowmaker. He also collaborated with other Media Ventures composers, such as Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell, and Zimmer; and mentored several others like Ramin Djawadi and Steve Jablonsky.
While collaborating with Zimmer, Badelt contributed to the Oscar-nominated scores for The Thin Red Line and The Prince of Egypt, and wrote music for many well known directors including Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Terrence Malick, John Woo, Kathryn Bigelow, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Werner Herzog, Sean Penn, Gore Verbinski, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.
Badelt co-wrote and co-produced the score to Hollywood box office hit Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, along with Zimmer and singer/composer Lisa Gerrard. Having contributed music to Gladiator, Mission: Impossible II and Michael Kamen's score for X-Men, Badelt was involved in the three most successful movies in 2000. Badelt also collaborated with Zimmer on other successful films, such as The Pledge, and 2001 blockbusters Hannibal and Pearl Harbor. One of his more famous and popular scores was for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
In 2004, Klaus founded his own film music company, Theme Park Studios, in Santa Monica. Since then, he has scored films such as Constantine, Poseidon, Rescue Dawn, and TMNT.
Among Badelt's most critically celebrated scores are the Chinese fantasy film The Promise and DreamWorks' remake of The Time Machine, the latter of which earned him the Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards 2003. He also wrote the music for the closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and was commissioned to write an opera about China's First Emperor, to be premiered in 2015.
Klaus worked on the soundtrack for The Promise for almost 6 months. The song which can be heard in the movie's end credits is an ancient folk song in China, and very few people can still sing it. For that, Klaus traveled almost two weeks in China to find someone who was able to sing the whole folk song in order to rearrange it for the score.
Hoist the Colors Suite
Klaus Badelt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The King an his men
Stole the Queen from her bed
And bound her in her bones
The Seas be ours and by the powers
Where we will we′ll roam
Yo, ho, all hands
Hoist the colours high
Never shall we die
Now some have died and some are alive
And those sail on the sea
With the keys to the cage
And the devil to pay
We lay to fiddlers green
Yo, ho, haul together
Hoist the colours high
Heave, ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die
The bell has been raised
From its wattery grave
Hear its sepulcral tone
A call to all
Pay heed the squall
And turn your sails to home
Yo, ho, haul together
Hoist the colours high
Heave, ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die
Yo, ho, haul together
Hoist the colours high
Heave, ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die
Yo, ho, haul together
Hoist the colours high
Heave, ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die
The King and.his.men
Stole the Queen from her bed
And bound her in her bones
The Seas be ours and by the powers
Where we will we'll roam
The Klaus Badelt song "Hoist the Colors Suite" is an instrumental piece that was featured in the 2007 movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." The song is played during the opening credits of the movie and during a few key scenes throughout the film. The song is intended to set the mood for the movie and to introduce the audience to the themes of piracy, adventure, and rebellion.
The lyrics of the song speak of the power struggle between the pirates and the ruling powers of the time. The opening lines speak of a queen who has been stolen by the king and his men and bound in her bones. This alludes to the idea of oppression and captivity. The next lines speak of the power of the seas and the freedom that the pirates seek. The chorus repeats the phrase "hoist the colours high" which is a call to action for the pirate crew to raise their flags and go to battle.
The next section of the song speaks of those who have already died in battle and those who are still alive and sailing. They have the "keys to the cage," which may refer to their ability to escape from captivity or their access to treasure. The song then mentions Fiddler's Green, which is a legendary resting place for sailors who die at sea. The final section of the song speaks of a bell that has been raised from the depths of the sea and is a call to sailors to turn their sails to home.
Overall, "Hoist the Colors Suite" is a powerful and evocative piece of music that captures the spirit of piracy, adventure, and rebellion. Its lyrics speak of the struggle for freedom and the high cost of achieving it.
Line by Line Meaning
The King and his men
The King and his army committed a daring act of theft and kidnapped the Queen.
Stole the Queen from her bed
They snatched her from her resting place without warning.
And bound her in her bones
They tied her up tightly, leaving her feeling trapped and helpless.
The Seas be ours and by the powers
The ocean is our domain and we have control over it.
Where we will we'll roam
We are free to explore and travel the seas wherever we please.
Yo, ho, all hands
A call to all crew members, to come together and take action.
Hoist the colours high
Raise the flag up high, as a symbol of our unity and strength.
Heave, ho, thieves and beggars
We are a ragtag bunch of outlaws and misfits, but we will not be defeated.
Never shall we die
We will never give up or surrender, even in the face of danger and death.
Now some have died and some are alive
Some of us have lost our lives on this journey, while others are still among the living.
And those sail on the sea
Those of us who are still alive continue to journey on the ocean.
With the keys to the cage
We hold the power to unlock ourselves from any captivity or oppression.
And the devil to pay
There will be a price to pay for our rebellious actions and disregard for the law.
We lay to fiddlers green
The afterlife we seek is a paradise-like destination for sailors.
The bell has been raised
A signal has been sounded, alerting us to impending danger.
From its wattery grave
The bell has been retrieved from the depths of the ocean.
Hear its sepulcral tone
Listen to its haunting sound, warning of impending doom.
A call to all
A warning to everyone on board, to be prepared for what's to come.
Pay heed the squall
Take special notice of the storm that approaches.
And turn your sails to home
It's time to head back to shore, to safety and security.
Contributed by Jeremiah H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jord633
It reminds me of Rudyard Kipling's poem
Here a fragment
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise
[...]
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
@samuelkimmusic
JOHNNY DEPP WON!!!!!!!!!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
@erikgamezhurtado8635
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@wolfie7841
ARRRRRRR
@XenoCobra
VICTORY FOR JOHNNY!
@bacondragon6925
LES FOKIN GO! DRINK UP ME HEARTIES YO HO!
@eccmbmw1
HOIST THE COLOURS HIGH, THIEVES AND BEGGARS, NEVER SHALL WILL DIE!!!! 💪💪💪
@samuelkimmusic
#JusticeForJohnnyDepp!!!
Huge thanks to my brother Colm McGuinness for the EPIC vocals and over 100 of my subsribers for the Background Choir Vocals!!!
In honor of Johnny Depp and his upcoming victory, I will be making POTC covers in the next coming weeks!
Comment other POTC themes I should cover!!!
@maximus41
Two hornpipes (Tortuga) please
@barnabassebesteny1490
He's a pirate/what shall we die for/hoist the colors X Before lights out/Rittiakudou that would be awesome, for when the breathern court (that is not how you spell it) charge into battle just as Erwin did with Elizabeth's speech mirroring Erwin's
@ghost-ofsparta
Up is down from Hans Zimmer