Pirate Jenny
(Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein)
You people can watch while I’m scrubbing these floors
And I’m scrubbing the floors while you’re gawking
Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But you’ll never guess to who you’re talking
No, you couldn’t ever guess to who you’re talking
Then one night there’s a scream in the night
And you’ll wonder who could that have been
And you see me kind of grinning while I’m scrubbing
And you say, what’s she got to grin
I’ll tell you
There’s a ship
The black freighter
With a skull on its masthead
Will 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 tips
And look out to the ships
But I’m counting your heads
As I’m making the beds
‘Cause there’s nobody gonna sleep here, honey
Nobody
Nobody
Then one night there’s a scream in the night
And you say, who’s that kicking up a row
And ya see me kind of staring out the window
And you say, what’s she got to stare at now
I’ll tell you
There’s a ship
The black freighter
Turns around in the harbor
Shooting guns from her bow
Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole fricking place will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
And 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-do
You 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 ship
The black freighter
Runs a flag up its masthead
And a cheer rings the air
By noontime the dock
Is a-swarming with men
Coming out from the ghostly freighter
They move in the shadows
Where no one can see
And they’re chaining up people
And they’re bringing ’em to me
Asking me, kill them now, or later
Asking me, kill them now, or later
Noon by the clock
And so still at the dock
You can hear a foghorn miles away
And in that quiet of death
I’ll say, right now, 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