Pirate Jenny
Judy Collins Lyrics

You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors
You can stand here and watch as I do the low-level job of cleaning these floors.

And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking
I'm cleaning the floors while you stand idly and watch me work.

Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
If you give me a tip, you might feel good about yourself for having done a good deed.

In this crummy southern town
This is a rundown place located in the south where people aren't treated fairly.

In this crummy old hotel
This is a sad, dingy old hotel where people find themselves stuck.

But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'.
You don't even know the person you're speaking to or what capabilities they might possess.

Then one night there's a scream in the night
At some point in the future, you'll hear a scream breaking out in the night.

And you'll wonder who could that have been
You'll be curious to find out the origin of the scream you heard earlier.

And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin'
When you catch a glimpse of me washing floors, you'll notice an unusual grin on my face.

And you say, "what's she got to grin?"
You'll wonder why I seem to be happy about something when I'm doing such a menial job.

There's a ship
Out at sea, a ship is moving out towards the shore.

The black freighter
It's a black, ominous looking freighter that has the air of an impending disaster.

With a skull on its masthead
An eerie-looking skull is visible on the mast of the ship, which represents death and danger.

Will be coming in
The ship is making its way to the harbor and will be arriving soon, which doesn't bode well.

You gentlemen can say, "hey gal, finish them floors!
The men who frequent the hotel will command me to complete the cleaning tasks I'm assigned, as if my time and energy are at their beck and call.

Get upstairs! what's wrong with you! earn your keep here!
They will rudely dictate that I go upstairs and work harder to earn my room and board in this establishment.

You toss me your tips
You throw your money at me as though that gives you the right to treat me however you see fit.

And look out to the ships
You'll sit and gaze outside at the threatened, terrifying ship on the horizon.

But I'm counting your heads
In my mind, I'm keeping track of the heads I'll see piled on the floor soon enough.

As I'm making the beds
I'm holding back my rage and fury while doing the mundane task of cleaning the beds because I know what's coming next.

Cause there's nobody gonna sleep here, honey
No one is going to rest in any of the hotel's rooms tonight since a mass murder will plague the hotel.

Then one night there's a scream in the night
As the evening wears on, another scream from one of the guests breaks the silence in the hotel.

And you say, "who's that kicking up a row?"
You can't comprehend the reason why someone would be making so much noise and causing a disturbance.

And ya see me kinda starin' out the winda
You'll come across a strange sighting - me staring out of the hotel window - as though I'm waiting for something significant to happen.

And you say, "what's she got to stare at now?"
You'll query why I'm braving death to watch what's going on outside the safety of the hotel.

There's a ship
Out in the harbor, another ship is visible with terrible foreboding attached to its presence.

The black freighter
The dark-colored, foreboding ship is coming in through the harbor in a way that spells imminent destruction.

Turns around in the harbor
The ship is moving in a suspicious way as if it's preparing for a sudden attack or something equally nefarious.

Shootin' guns from her bow
Loud gunfire will blast from the front of the ship as it comes closer and closer to arrival on dry land.

Now
Now that you witness the mayhem first hand.

You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
You'll wipe the satisfied grin off your face when you finally witness the destruction around you.

Cause every building in town is a flat one
Every building in the town is destroyed, except for the squat, safe hotel where I work.

This whole frickin' place will be down to the ground
The entire town will be leveled, and nothing will remain standing when the destruction is over.

Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
This is the only building fortunate enough to still be standing after the total carnage.

And you yell, "why do they spare that one?"
You'll wonder why the hotel was spared from the onslaught, while everything else fell prey to the destruction.

All the night through, through the noise and to-do
As the night wears on, the chaos and destruction reach a crescendo, filling the air with noise and terror.

You wonder who is that person that lives up there?
People will wonder about the lucky person who managed to survive the horrifying destruction.

And you see me stepping out in the morning
The next morning, you'll see me stepping out from the safe confines of the hotel into the aftermath of destruction.

Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair
Despite the trauma I endured, I look put together with a ribbon in my hair, ready to face the next set of challenges.

And the ship
The ship that pillaged the town is still out there, with nothing to stop it from coming back for more destruction.

The black freighter
The ominous and haunting black freighter has the capacity to bring more woe at any time.

Runs a flag up its masthead
A new flag is flying at the top of the black freighter's mast, symbolizing that more misery is on the way.

And a cheer rings the air
The people who caused the destruction are cheering, thinking they have won and reveling in their capacity for evil.

By noontime the dock
At midday, the dock is busy again, as if nothing had happened the night before.

Is a-swarmin' with men
Men are making their way to the dock, either to help with reconstruction efforts or to start a new day's work following the previous night's horrors.

Comin' out from the ghostly freighter
People come out of the act of the black freighter, almost like ghosts stepping out of an afterlife.

They move in the shadows
The people are moving silently and unseen in the shadows, as if trying to avoid any kind of detection.

Where no one can see
Their actions are hidden from view, making them all the more secretive and dangerous.

And they're chainin' up people
Some of them begin chaining people up and taking them prisoner as if they are continuing their reign of terror at the hotel.

And they're bringin' em to me
They eventually bring these prisoners to me, as if I had something to do with their capture.

Askin' me,
They ask me the horrific question regarding the fate of their prisoners.

"Kill them now, or later?"
They want to know whether they should kill their captives immediately or delay their demise.

Noon by the clock
With high noon chiming, it's midday again, and the prisoners continue to wait for their fate to be sealed.

And so still by the dock
The dock is quiet now, as the majority of the people have dispersed to avoid the chaos unfolding in the hotel.

You can hear a foghorn miles away
The tolling of a distant horn can be heard, signaling that hope might be on the way soon.

And in that quiet of death
As people wait anxiously for their fate, there's a silent, deathly chill running through the air around us.

I'll say, "right now.
I'll demand an immediate action that will bring an end to the situation and give us some semblance of peace.

Right now!"
The only solution is to do away with the people responsible for the carnage, right now, without hesitation.

Then they'll pile up the bodies
Soon enough, there'll be too many lifeless bodies to mourn or think about, and they'll start to pile up.

And I'll say,
I'll be called upon to make the ultimate decision.

"That'll learn ya!"
Through my rage and frustration, I'll utter the phrase that's meant to teach this murderous mob a lesson they're unlikely to forget.

And the ship
The ill-famed ship that started it all will sail out to sea, leaving a wounded town and its residents in its wake.

The black freighter
This black freighter is now a symbol of darkness and power over the helpless, creating evil in its wake.

Disappears out to sea
The ship vanished into the distance, soon to be forgotten, but the pain and suffering that it caused lingered on.

And
With the conclusion of the haunting song, listeners are left with this final message.

On
Ultimately, the horror that descends upon an unsuspecting town won't be too different from any traditional pirate adventure story.

It
Through death, destruction, and mayhem, it's the hotel worker who blasts her way out of her shackled existence and finds her power.

Is
This is how pirate tales, often filled with terror and death, continue to grip our imaginations and impact our art.

Me
Through this song, Judy Collins draws attention to the plight of the oppressed and the abuse of power that can destroy lives and communities.