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"The Ballad of Magellan" is a song from the segment of the same name.

In the song, Yakko Warner and his siblings harmonize to the tune of "Git Along, Little Dogies" about the voyages traveled by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The lyrics were written by John P. McCann and Paul Rugg, and the harmonies arranged by Julie Bernstein. The song also serves as the sixth track on the "Yakko's World" album, but on the album, Wakko and Dot's spoken lines are spoken by random members of the crew.

Lyrics[]

Yakko Warner:
There once was a man, his name was Magellan.
A Portuguese skipper, the girls found him cute
He sailed with five ships to find the East Indies
Then come back to Spain with a bounty of loot
The Warners:
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, oh, happy Magellan!
Starting your journey with hardly a care!
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, strong, brave Magellan,
You'll find the East Indies, you just don't know where!
Yakko:
They crossed the Atlantic and spotted a country.
Magellan said...
Magellan:
It's the East Indies at last!
Yakko:
But then someone shouted...
Wakko Warner:
Hey, that's Argentina!
Yakko:
Magellan got cranky and chopped down the mast
The Warners:
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, settle down, Magellan
Put down that axe! There's no time to despair
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, keep trying, Magellan,
You'll find the East Indies, you just don't know where!
Yakko:
A great storm arose in the mighty Pacific
The five little ships were diminished to three
At last, land was sighted. Magellan was happy
But then someone shouted...
Dot:
Hey, that's Chile!
The Warners:
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, cheer up, Magellan.
Check out your map and don't tear out your hair!
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, keep trying, Magellan,
You'll find the East Indies, you just don't know where!
Yakko:
It took them five months, but they crossed the Pacific.
They spotted a land that was dotted with palms.
Magellan proclaimed...
Magellan:
Yes! That's the East Indies!
Yakko:
But then someone shouted...
Wakko:
Hey, I think that's Guam!
The Warners:
Ai yi yi yi, oops, Magellan!
Your fun little journey's become a nightmare!
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, keep trying, Magellan,
You'll find the East Indies, you just don't know where!
Yakko:
They sailed due west to the Philippine Islands
Magellan was pleased as the natives drew near
But then someone shouted...
The Warners:
I think they're attacking!
Yakko:
Magellan said...
Magellan:
What?
Yakko:
And got hit by a spear
The Warners:
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, farewell, Magellan!
You almost made it! It's really not fair!
Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, oh, ghost of Magellan
The East Indies Islands were right over there!

Trivia[]

Errors[]

  • Magellan actually knew perfectly well where the East Indies were. The purpose of his voyage was to find an alternative westward route to them. Christopher Columbus had attempted the same thing years earlier but instead ended up in the West Indies, which are today known as the Caribbean. It might be more accurate to say that his "search" was to "find" the East Indies by another route, or to find a different (better?) route to them.
  • Magellan didn't mistake Argentina (which wasn't a country at the time and didn’t become a country until 1816) for the East Indies. He anchored there for the winter. Where he landed is now known as Puerto San Julian (a town in Argentina).
  • The reduction of the five ships to three wasn't due to a storm. The Santiago was shipwrecked while scouting and the San Antonio deserted the other ships and returned to Spain. Also, Magellan named the Pacific Ocean because of how comparatively calm it seemed to him. Far from the stormy weather depicted in the song.
  • Magellan didn't land in Chile. He discovered the Strait of Magellan, which is now Chilean waters.
  • Magellan's voyage actually took just over three months to cross the Pacific, around 99 days in fact.
  • Some definitions of the East Indies consider Guam and the Philippines to be part of them, so by some accounts Magellan can be said to have 'found the East Indies'. In fact, Magellan only stopped in Guam to resupply. However, some historians believe he may have landed on Saipan (which is today part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands), not Guam.
  • Magellan and his allies were the ones doing the attacking, not being attacked. After reaching the Philippines, he managed to convert some of the tribes to Christianity, as well as the King, who fought with the Mactan tribe for not converting and Magellan sided with him.
  • Magellan was killed by a poisoned arrow, not a spear. The King Rajah Humabon poisoned some of Magellan's men afterward as revenge for failing to defeat his enemy.
    • This error was corrected in the Brazilian Portuguese dub, which states "E ele falou e uma flechada levou," roughly translating to "And he spoke and he was shot with an arrow".
  • While Magellan may have died during the voyage, the journey wasn't a total wash out as the Warners make it out to be. Juan Sebastian del Cano and some of the remaining crew did make it to the Maluku Islands (which are today part of Indonesia) and went on to circumnavigate the globe, proving definitively that the world is round in the process. The Conception was deliberately burned due to lacking the necessary crew and the Trinidad was shipwrecked after being attacked by a Portuguese vessel. Also, despite returning to Spain with a much depleted crew (less than 20 out of 270 at the start) and only one ship (Victoria) out of five, the voyage did ultimately turn a profit.

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