And here I sit
A cowardly boy
Adventure only dreams

A captain of
A pirate ship
A million crimson themes

I wish to be
Content you see
To take the softer seat

To summon gut
To play the slut
My bass drum for to beat

Hey!

Gyp the blood
Gyp the blood
Anchor in my heart
Skull and crossbones to the breeze
A heave ho to depart

But it happened that
There came a ghost
To visit on my soul

I coloured him
From picture books
With eyes as rich as gold

A ghost who would
Embody
All my sickly frame would be

A hero
And a challenger
Of heart and spirit free

Hey!

Gyp the blood
Gyp the blood
Anchor of my heart
Skull and crossbones to the breeze
A heave ho to depart

And gyp the blood
And I retook
The world upon our backs

And we drank from dawn
To dusk
How the warm breeze took our drags

For we had the reins
On europe we
Had our anger like a flame

The balls to fight
The system
And the nerve to win the game

Gyp the blood
Gyp the blood
Anchor of my heart
Skull and crossbones to the breeze
A heave ho to depart

So purity
I would spit upon
All saintly sights be damned

For it seems correct
To kill and steal
To be a proper man

I find myself
Full up with hate
To lose it on the world

An eye for deeds
Of darker shade
And a lip so wickedly curled

A skull encrusted
Captains hat
Fell down upon my brow

I gathered all
My hopes and schemes
All wisdom for to know

And rip the shirts
I wore around
My shoulders like a robe

Dark ermine trim
And tainted grin
Grim warnings to forbode

And all the love within me
Would be churned for something sour
My angels tongue ripped from my throat
And tortured by the hour

For I have no time to learn
For love wounds me with its touch
May the gods take me a screaming
May the gods take me a screaming...

Gyp the blood
Gyp the blood
Anchor of my heart
Skull and crossbones to the breeze
A heave ho to depart

May the gods take me a screaming
May the gods take me a screaming...

Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Oh why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Oh why is the world filled with people
It makes for a painful life
You'll disappoint me if you don't disappoint me
Come and dance with the tip of my knife

Why is the night filled with laughter
At expense of the sickest of jokes
While the world is a blot and it's cistern's fill up
On the dross and the shit we call folks

Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Oh why is the world filled with the people
They snear and they snide and they moan
And the way I am now it seems I am one of them
Having grudges of my own

And why is this street a-crawling with cockroaches
Insects with two arms, two legs
Leaving their stink and their filth and their debris
I'll break all their faces like eggs

Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Oh why is the world filled with people
A-choking the air with their breath
Grunting like hogs in the sludge and the sewerage
Cringing from wonderful death
Oh why do my ears have to ring with their bantering
Bitching and ignorant words
Giving me aches with pathetic opinion
People, it's fact, are insufferable turds

Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Oh why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Oh why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

And I can't bear the little creeps
That tell me they hate my hair
They're always incredibly ugly
If they dropped dead tomorrow I wouldn't care
They feel that they have to comment
Have to put up with their penneth-worth
They're sick, hypocritical, mincing, unwitty
Not worth a spit in the dirt

They're not worth a spit in the dirt
They're not worth a spit in the dirt

Oh why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone
Oh why can't I be on my own
Just me and the world alone

Ahh you people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors
And I'm scrubbing these floors while you're gawking
Maybe once you tip me and it makes you feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this pit of hotel
But you'll never guess to who you're talking
No
You'll never guess to who you're talking

Then 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 in

You 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-one

Then 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 harbour
Shooting guns from her bow

Well you gentlemen can wipe those smiles off your face
'Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole frigging 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 ?
"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 now
And a ship
The black freighter
Runs a flag up it's mast-head
And a cheer rings the air. Hey!

My ??? on the dock is a swarming with men
Coming out from the ghostly freighter
They're moving in the shadows where no-one can see
And they're chaining up people
And delivering '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 fog horn miles away
And 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 !

I was only a child when I met you.
You came from the Burma Lagoon.
You said, "Would you like a bit of travel?"
You promised me all but the moon.
I asked you what you did for a living.
And you swore, God's my witness, to me.
That you worked for the railroad people,
And would never ever follow the sea.

You said a lot, Johnny.
Not a word was true, Johnny.
You betrayed me, Johnny
The moment we met.
I hate your guts Johnny.
Don't stand there grinning
Take that cigarette out of your mouth, you pig.

Surabaya Johnny,
Why did you treat me so wrong?
Surabaya, Johnny,
My God, and I do love you so.
Surabaya, Johnny,
Why am I feeling so low?
You have no heart, Johnny.
And I do love you so.

At first, it was always Sunday,
As long as I pleased you at night.
But only a few weeks later,
Not a thing I did was right.
Up and down we tramped through the Punjab,
The river along to the sea.
But now when I look in the mirror,
There's a broken face that I see.

You wanted no love, Johnny.
You wanted the loot, Johnny.
But your lips, Johnny,
I could never forget.
You asked for everything, Johnny,
I gave you more, Johnny.
Take that cigarette out of your mouth, you shit

Surabaya, Johnny.
Why did treat me so bad?
Surabaya, Johnny,
My God, and I love you so.
Surabaya, Johnny.
Why am I feeling so low?
You have no heart, Johnny,
And I do love you so.

I wish I had paid more attention
To that nickname of yours and the rest.
All along that bloody awful coastline,
You have been a notorious guest.
In a sixpence-a-night bed one morning,
I will wake to the thunder of the sea.
And your ship will be leaving the harbour,
And you won't even wave to me.

You have no heart, Johnny!
You're a bastard, Johnny!
Why did you leave me?
Can you tell me that?
I love you more, Johnny,
Than the first night, Johnny.
Take that fucking cigarette out of your mouth, you shit.

Surabaya, Johnny.
Why did you treat me so wrong?
Surabaya, Johnny,
My God, and I do love you so.
Surabaya, Johnny.
Why am I feeling so low?
'Cos you have no heart, Johnny.
And I do love you so.

He wears in his heart
A fish from the China Sea
At times one sees it crossing
Diminished in his eyes
Being sea man he forgets
Bars and oranges

He looks at the water

He had a soapy tongue
He washed his hands and was still
Level world hilly sea
A hundred stars and his ship
He saw the balconies of the pope
And the golden breasts of the Cuban girls

He looks at the water

I dived into the pool
The cool, the blue from heat
The sun breathes fire
On Marrakesh
To burn the busy street
My brow the wet of fever
My throat the dry of sand
Through passageways to dead ends
A gauntlet of the hands

Jackal jackal
Rise of hackle
Row of tombstone teeth
Take me to the labyrinth
The palace of the thief

The shaking of the bus
The ragged boys a chanting
My temple pounds with sights and sounds
The stamping and the dancing

My body feels so dizzy
As cobra snakes unwind
Dark hands dart to my pockets
For anything they'll find
Oh let me lead you, take you feed you
To the hungry souk
Monkey grins and caiman skins
Eyes so wise
And smile so young

Jackal jackal
Rise of hackle
Row of tombstone teeth
Take me to the labyrinth
The palace of the thief

My face on the pavement
The grit deep in my skin
Arms around my shoulders
The grazing of my skin

And he watches the sun go up
He watches the sun go down
I dived into the pool
I dived in deep to drown

Jackal jackal
Rise of hackle
Row of tombstone teeth
Take me to the labyrinth
The palace of the thief

Waves break over the shore, her heart breaks over him
Fickle love, faded fantasies, sweet dreams turning sour within
She touching 44 and he not so sweet 16
And though she loved him more it seemed this love had never, ever been

Oh, you know your still beautiful
(x3)

Empty bottles on the shelf as time came to pass
(on the shelf your lonely heart)
She thought she'd find his angel face in the bottom of a whiskey glass
(thinking of him, fall apart)
Could've been his mother but she hoped she'd be his lover just for a little while
Freshened up he make-up, sighed, and tried to welcome middle age with a friendly smile

She leans to tattoo him with one long last kiss
Gee I never knew love could be like this
The smell of cheap Gin laced with midnight cologne
The man on the T.V. calls Kathy, Kathy come home
Yeah, Kathy come home

Waves break over the shore her heart broke over him
(the waves take your breaking heart)
She threw her memories to the sea and now it's just as if he'd never, ever been
(tides bring a brand new start)
Never, ever been
Letters and photographs, the tide has taken them far away, far away
She still looking beautiful and who needs him anyway? Anyway.

Oh, you know your still beautiful

Let the waves take your breaking heart
(x3)
Your breaking heart
Your breaking heart