You gentlemen can watch while I'm scrubbin' the floor And I'm scrubbin' the floor while you're gawking And maybe once you tipped me and it made you feel swell In a ratty waterfront in this ratty-old hotel But you'll never know to who you're talkin' You never know to who you're talkin' Suddenly, one night, there's a scream in the night And you yelled, "What the hell could that have been?" And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin' And you say, "What's she got to grin?" And the ship, a Black Freighter With a skull on its masthead will be comin' in Then 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 'Cuz 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 yelled, "Who's that kicking up a row?" And ya 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 the laugh from your face Every building in town is a flat one Your whole stinking place will be down to the ground Only this cheap hotel standin' up safe and sound And you ask, "Why did they spare that one?" And you ask, "Why did 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 in the mornin' Lookin' nice with a ribbon in my hair And the ship, the Black Freighter Runs the flag up its masthead And a cheer rings the air By noontime the dock Is a' swarmin' with men Comin' off of that ghostly freighter And they're movin' in the shadows Where no one can see And they're chainin' up people And bringin' them to me Askin' me "k** them now or later?" Askin' me "k** them now, or later?" Noon by the clock And so still on the dock You can hear the foghorn miles away In that quiet of d**h I'll say, "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