You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors   And I'm scrubbin' 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 talkin'.   No. You couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'.      Then one night there's a scream in the night   And you'll wonder who could that have been   And 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 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   Cuz 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 kinda starin' out the winda   And you say, "What's she got to stare at now?"   I'll tell ya.      There's a ship   The Black Freighter   turns around in the harbor   shootin' 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 frickin' 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-swarmin' with men   comin' out from the ghostly freighter   They move in the shadows   where no one can see   And they're chainin' up people   and they're bringin' em to me   askin' me,   "Kill them NOW, or LATER?"   Askin' ME!   "Kill them now, or later?"      Noon by the clock   and so still by 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       ------------------------------------------------------------------------