I got a standing breakfast date with Saucy Jack
every morning at the same time, around dawn,
as hell's bells cease to chime and I hear the
bells of Old Bailey (that's an England thing
for you Yanks). Jack never tries to pay me,
and he never says thanks. The deal is, he
tells me about life, things gritty and ugly
and hard, things that made King George crack -
and I don't tell Scotland Yard his name ain't really Jack.
I know what he's been doing all night,
I know what he's been doing all night,
but I've never said I knew. But this morning,
the severed kidney in his pocket killed my
appetite (I wager it would yours too), so
I ask my friend Jack, face to face, if only
out of spite because my breakfast went to waste:
"Jack, how can you do what you do every night?"
"It's easy, boss," he says, "you pick the ones
"Jack, how can you do what you do every night?"
"It's easy, boss," he says, "you pick the ones
nobody wants - you can usually tell 'cos they
got no teeth - pick a simpleminded one, a
drunk one wobbly on her feet, and wear a
dark coat so no one sees you run."
"I don't mean that, Jack. I mean, don't it bother
you to kill?"
"Nah, mate; if they ain't human, it ain't murder.
"Nah, mate; if they ain't human, it ain't murder.
If I don't slice 'em, the Tories will."
"But don't you think it's a sin? Don't you think they matter?"
"It's a sin to starve in the East End, all the while Her Majesty gets fatter."
I don't bother to argue or tell him two wrongs
"It's a sin to starve in the East End, all the while Her Majesty gets fatter."
I don't bother to argue or tell him two wrongs
don't make a right. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Mate, you know I never sleep a wink."
"Mate, you know I never sleep a wink."
He's late for a meeting in Parliament and has to find a sink.
Jack asks me to mail a letter and promise not to tell.
It's a letter to the police, saying they'll never catch him,
they're far too late, and it says it's sent
"From Hell."
Jack puts on his coat and heads for Westminster.
I tell him I'll mail his note, afraid he won't be my friend
if I don't. I'm tempted to tell the Prime Minister, but it
would do no good - he's the one who signed the bill
Preacher Booth called a license to kill.
Tonight, below my room on Mitre Square, I hear
Tonight, below my room on Mitre Square, I hear
a scream. I think of Saucy Jack - if she ain't human,
what does it matter? I pretend it's all a dream, I pretend
I'm not a coward, all the while a toothless nobody is
sliced and overpowered. A little while passes, it's quiet
on the Square; she ain't human, I think,
why should anybody care?
Like clockwork, I hear a call for help and a
Like clockwork, I hear a call for help and a
peeler carriage clink and clatter.
Like a postcard from hell, my heart receives a message -
Like a postcard from hell, my heart receives a message -