Pirate Jenny

You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floorsAnd I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawkingMaybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swellIn this crummy Southern townIn this crummy old hotelBut you'll never guess to who you're talkin'.

No. You couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'.Then one night there's a scream in the nightAnd you'll wonder who could that have beenAnd you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin'And you say, "What's she got to grin?"I'll tell you.

There's a shipThe Black Freighterwith a skull on its mastheadwill be coming in.

You gentlemen can say, "Hey gal, finish them floors!Get upstairs! What's wrong with you! Earn your keep here!You toss me your tipsand look out to the shipsBut I'm counting your headsas I'm making the bedsCuz there's nobody gonna sleep here, honeyNobodyNobody!

Then one night there's a scream in the nightAnd you say, "Who's that kicking up a row?"And ya see me kinda starin' out the windaAnd you say, "What's she got to stare at now?"I'll tell ya.

There's a shipThe Black Freighterturns around in the harborshootin' guns from her bow.

Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your faceCause every building in town is a flat oneThis whole frickin' place will be down to the groundOnly this cheap hotel standing up safe and soundAnd you yell, "Why do they spare that one?"
Yes.
That's what you say."Why do they spare that one?"

All the night through, through the noise and to-doYou wonder who is that person that lives up there?And you see me stepping out in the morning Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair.

And the shipThe Black Freighterruns a flag up its mastheadand a cheer rings the air.

By noontime the dockis a-swarmin' with mencomin' out from the ghostly freighterThey move in the shadowswhere no one can seeAnd they're chainin' up peopleand they're bringin' em to measkin' me,"Kill them NOW, or LATER?"Askin' ME!"Kill them now, or later?"

Noon by the clockand so still by the dockYou can hear a foghorn miles awayAnd in that quiet of deathI'll say, "Right now.Right now!"

Then they'll pile up the bodiesAnd I'll say,"That'll learn ya!"

And the shipThe Black Freighterdisappears out to sea
And on it is me.

(1928) Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill