B E R T H O L T B R E C H T (1898-1956)
Pirate Jenny
or Dreams of a Kitchen Maid
All you gentlemen can see me as I’m washing the glasses
And I’m hardly a human being.
And you tip me with a penny and you think you tip me well
And you see my crummy clothes here in this crummy old hotel
And you don’t have a clue what you’re seeing.
And you don’t have a clue what you’re seeing.
But a day will come when there is shouting in the harbor
And you ask, What is that shout I hear?
And you’ll see me smiling there beside my glasses
And you’ll ask, What makes her smile so queer?
And a ship, a black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will lie at the pier.
They say, Go and dry your glasses my girl
And they pay with a “Thank you ma’am”
And I take it and say Yessir and I make the bed right
(But no one’s going to sleep there anymore tonight)
And they still have no idea who I am.
And they still have no idea who I am.
In the dead of night there’s a ruckus in the harbor
And they’ll say, That sounded very near.
And they’ll see me standing there behind the window
And they’ll ask, Why does she have that leer?
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Starts bombarding the town.
All you gentlemen will certainly stop your laughing
When the buildings fall everywhere.
And in no time the city will be leveled to the ground.
Just a crummy old hotel will be spared from all around
And they’ll ask, What VIP lives there?
And they’ll ask, What VIP lives there?
And all through the night there will be cries amid the ruins
And they’ll ask how this hotel escaped the gun.
And at dawn they’ll see me stepping out the doorway
And they’ll say, You think she was the one?
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will run flags up the mast.
And at noon the shad’wy hundreds start coming ashore
And they will move with deadly skill.
And they will capture everyone they happen to see
And they’ll clap them in irons and bring them to me
And they’ll ask me, Which ones shall we kill?
And they’ll ask me, Which ones shall we kill?
In the afternoon it will be still in the harbor
When they ask who will have to die.
And they’ll hear me in the silence saying, All of ’em.
And then when a head rolls I will say, Yessir!
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will vanish with me.
Translated by Jan Schreiber
Pirate Jenny
or Dreams of a Kitchen Maid
All you gentlemen can see me as I’m washing the glasses
And I’m hardly a human being.
And you tip me with a penny and you think you tip me well
And you see my crummy clothes here in this crummy old hotel
And you don’t have a clue what you’re seeing.
And you don’t have a clue what you’re seeing.
But a day will come when there is shouting in the harbor
And you ask, What is that shout I hear?
And you’ll see me smiling there beside my glasses
And you’ll ask, What makes her smile so queer?
And a ship, a black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will lie at the pier.
They say, Go and dry your glasses my girl
And they pay with a “Thank you ma’am”
And I take it and say Yessir and I make the bed right
(But no one’s going to sleep there anymore tonight)
And they still have no idea who I am.
And they still have no idea who I am.
In the dead of night there’s a ruckus in the harbor
And they’ll say, That sounded very near.
And they’ll see me standing there behind the window
And they’ll ask, Why does she have that leer?
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Starts bombarding the town.
All you gentlemen will certainly stop your laughing
When the buildings fall everywhere.
And in no time the city will be leveled to the ground.
Just a crummy old hotel will be spared from all around
And they’ll ask, What VIP lives there?
And they’ll ask, What VIP lives there?
And all through the night there will be cries amid the ruins
And they’ll ask how this hotel escaped the gun.
And at dawn they’ll see me stepping out the doorway
And they’ll say, You think she was the one?
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will run flags up the mast.
And at noon the shad’wy hundreds start coming ashore
And they will move with deadly skill.
And they will capture everyone they happen to see
And they’ll clap them in irons and bring them to me
And they’ll ask me, Which ones shall we kill?
And they’ll ask me, Which ones shall we kill?
In the afternoon it will be still in the harbor
When they ask who will have to die.
And they’ll hear me in the silence saying, All of ’em.
And then when a head rolls I will say, Yessir!
And the ship, the black galleon,
With its fifty brass cannons
Will vanish with me.
Translated by Jan Schreiber