Oh, Better Far to Live and Die

[Part I, Sung]

[PIRATE KING]
Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part,
With a pirate head and a pirate heart

Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well to do,
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King!

For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King
I am a Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES]
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!

[PIRATE KING]
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES]
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King

[Chorus of Pirates & Pirate King]
Hurrah for the Pirate King!

[Chorus of Pirates]
He is a Pirate King
He is! Hurrah for the pirate king
And it is, it is, a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King!

[PIRATE KING]
When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way;
I sink a few more ships, it's true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do!

But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than ever I do.

For I am a Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES & PIRATE KING]
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.

[PIRATE KING]
I am a Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES]
You are! Hurrah for the Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES & PIRATE KING]
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!

[CHORUS OF PIRATES]
It is! Hurrah for the Pirate King

[CHORUS OF PIRATES & PIRATE KING]
Hurrah for the Pirate King!

[Part II, Spoken]

[RUTH]
Oh, take me with you! I cannot live if I am left behind.

[Frederic]
Ruth, I will be quite candid with you. You are very dear to me, as you know, but I must be circumspect. You see, you are considerably older than I. A lad of twenty-one usually looks for a wife of seventeen.

[RUTH]
A wife of seventeen! You will find me a wife of a thousand!

[FREDERIC]
No, but I shall find you a wife of forty-seven, and that is quite enough. Ruth, tell me candidly and without reserve: compared with other women – are you beautiful?

[RUTH]
I have been told so, dear master.

[FREDERIC]
Ah, but lately?

[RUTH]
Oh, no; years and years ago.

[FREDERIC]
What do you think of yourself?

[RUTH]
It is a delicate question to answer, but I think I am a fine woman.

[FREDERIC]
Thank you, Ruth. I believe you, for I am sure you would not practice on my inexperience. I wish to do the right thing, and if -– I say if –- you are really a fine woman, your age shall be no obstacle to our union!
(A chorus of girls is heard in the distance)
Hark! Surely I hear voices! Who has ventured to approach our all but inaccessible lair? Can it be Custom House? No, it does not sound like Custom House.

[RUTH]
Confusion! it is the voices of young girls! If he should see them I am lost.

[FREDERIC]
By all that’s marvelous, a bevy of beautiful maidens!

[RUTH]
Lost! lost! lost!

[FREDERIC]
How lovely, how surpassingly lovely is the plainest of them! What grace – what delicacy – what refinement! And Ruth – Ruth told me she was beautiful!