Pirate Jenny

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

And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawkin'

And maybe once you're tipped, man, it makes you feel swell

On the ratty waterfront in a ratty old hotel

And you never guess to who you're talkin'

You never guess to who you're talkin'

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

And you wonder what could that have been

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

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

And the ship, a black freighter

With a skull on its masthead

Will be comin' in

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

'Cause 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 yell, "Who's that kickin' up a row?"

And you 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 that laugh from your face

Every building in town is a flat one

Your whole stinkin' place will be down to the ground

Only this cheap hotel's standin' up safe and sound

And you yell, "Why do they spare that one?"

And you say, "Why do 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 into the mornin'

Lookin' nice with a ribbon in my hair

And the ship, the black freighter

Runs a flag up its masthead

And the cheer rings the air

By noontime, the dock is all swarmin' with men

Comin' off of that ghostly freighter

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 her now or later?"

Askin' me, "Kill her now or later?"

Noon by the clock and so still on the dock

You can hear a foghorn miles away

In that quiet of death, I'll say, "Right now"

And they'll pile up the bodies and I'll say, "That'll learn ya"

Then the ship, the black freighter

Disappears out to sea

And on it is me