Ahh, you people can watch
While I'm scrubbing these floors
And I'm scrubbing these floors
While you're gawkingMaybe once you tip me
And it makes you feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this pit of hotelBut you'll never guess
To who you're talking
No, you'll never guess
To who you're talkingThen one night there's
A scream in the night
And you wonder
"Who could that have been?"And you see me kind of grinning
While I'm scrubbing
And you say "What she got to grin?"I'll tell ya there's a ship
The black freighter
With a skull on it's mast head
Will be coming inYou gentlemen say
"Hey gal, finish them floors
What's wrong with you?
Earn your keep here"You toss me your tips
And look to the ships
But I'm counting your heads
As I'm making the beds'Cause there's nobody
Gonna sleep here tonight
No, nobody, no one, no oneThen one night there's
A scream in the night
And you say
"Who's that kicking up a row?"And you see me kinda
Staring out the window
And you say
"What she got to stare at now?"I'll tell ya there's a ship
The black freighter
Turns around in the harbor
Shooting guns from her bowWell, you gentlemen can wipe
Those smiles off your face
'Cause every building
In town is a flat oneThis whole frigging place
Will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up
Safe and soundAnd you yell
"Why do they spare that one?
"Why?"
"Why the hell do they spare that one?"All the night through
With the noise and to do
And you wonder
"Who is that person that lives up there?"And you see me
Stepping out in the morning
Looking fine with
A ribbon in my hair
Well, just look at me nowAnd a ship, the black freighter
Runs a flag up it's mast head
And a cheer rings the air, heyMy [unverified] on the dock
Is a swarming with men
Coming out from the ghostly freighterThey're moving in the shadows
Where no one can see
And they're chaining up people
And delivering 'em to meAsking 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 fog horn miles awayAnd in that quiet of death I'll say
"Right now, right now"
And they pile up the bodies and I'll say
"That'll learn you, that'll learn you"And the ship, the black freighter
Disappears out to sea
And on it is me