Pirate Jenny

You gentlemen can watch while I'm scrubbin' the floor

And I'm scrubbin' the floor while you're gawking

And maybe once you tipped me and it made you feel swell

In a ratty waterfront in this ratty-old hotel

But you'll never know to who you're talkin'

You never know to who you're talkin'

Suddenly, one night, there's a scream in the night

And you yelled, "What the hell could that have been?"

And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin'

And you say, "What's she got to grin?"

And the ship, a Black Freighter

With a skull on its masthead will be comin' in

Then you gentlemen can say, "Hey girl, finish the floors

Get upstairs, make the beds, earn your keep here

You toss me your tips and look out at the ships

But I'm countin' your heads

While I make up the beds

'Cuz there's nobody gonna sleep here

Tonight, none of you will sleep here

Then, that night, there's a bang in the night

And you yelled, "Who's that kicking up a row?"

And ya see me kinda starin' out the window

And you say, "What's she got to stare at now?"

And the ship, the Black Freighter

Turns around in the harbor

Shootin' guns from the bow

Then you gentlemen can wipe off the laugh from your face

Every building in town is a flat one

Your whole stinking place will be down to the ground

Only this cheap hotel standin' up safe and sound

And you ask, "Why did they spare that one?"

And you ask, "Why did they spare that one?"

All the night through, with the noise and to-do

You wonder, who's the person lives up there?

Then you see me steppin' out in the mornin'

Lookin' nice with a ribbon in my hair

And the ship, the Black Freighter

Runs the flag up its masthead

And a cheer rings the air

By noontime the dock

Is a' swarmin' with men

Comin' off of that ghostly freighter

And they're movin' in the shadows

Where no one can see

And they're chainin' up people

And bringin' them to me

Askin' me

"Kill them now or later?"

Askin' me

"Kill them now, or later?"

Noon by the clock

And so still on the dock

You can hear the foghorn miles away

In that quiet of death

I'll say, "Right now

Then they'll pile up the bodies

And I'll say, "That'll learn ya"

And the ship

The Black Freighter

Disappears out to sea

And on it is me