Lyrics

⸻

[Verse 1]
Mary rode with soldiers once, her chest bound tight with cloth,
She fought in foreign battles and kept her heart aloft.
She killed a man in Flanders when he called her just a whore,
She buried him with silence, and walked right out the war.

[Verse 2]
Ann was raised in Carolina, by a father full of shame,
Took her mother’s rage to heart, and burned her married name.
She met Jack in Nassau’s harbor, with rum and smoke and knives,
But it was Mary’s eyes she followed through a hundred lives.

[Refrain]
All the King’s men say,
“We caught ’em where they stand.”
“But it weren’t no man who held the line—
It was Mary, it was Ann.”

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[Verse 3]
The Revenge was just a stolen brig, her sails all stitched with blood,
Jack Rackham led with swagger, but he trembled in the flood.
When the Navy ran up colors, and the cannon mouths were wide,
The men all hid in barrels, but those two stood and cried:

[Refrain]
All the Federales say,
“The men were drunk and damned—
But the women fought like judgment day—
It was Mary, it was Ann.”

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[Verse 4]
Mary said to Ann one night, behind the galley’s hold,
“This world has never wanted us, but still we never fold.”
They kissed with blades in hand, and never prayed for peace,
Just the open sea before them and the gallows at their knees.

[Verse 5]
In Spanish Town they stood in chains, their dresses stitched with grime,
Pregnant, bruised, and quiet, beneath the weight of time.
Jack swung first in silence, no word, no plea, no call—
But Mary’s gaze met Ann’s, and never flinched at all.

[Refrain]
All the redcoats say,
“They died like wicked men.”
But they never knew what freedom was—
It was Mary. It was Ann.”

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[Outro]
Now the water keeps their story, in a whisper through the mast,
Two names carved in timber, too sharp and wild to last.
But down in ports and rum halls, when the candles start to burn—
You’ll hear about two pirate girls who never did return.

[Final Refrain - hush voice]
All the lawmen say,
“They shoulda hung back then…”
But justice don’t remember right—
It was Mary. It was Ann.