Songs
All songs written and composed by Rickie Lee Jones, excepted when noted:
"We Belong Together"
Here, Jones appears to lament the end of her relationship with Waits, populating her narrative with intriguing bohemian characters such as Johnny the King. The song also references movie icons Marlon Brando and Natalie Wood. Jones plays an elegant piano melody with the arrangement building around her.
"Living It Up"
One of the last songs recorded for Pirates, "Living It Up" details the lives of a succession of bohemian street characters, with Jones introducing Louie, Eddie, and the down-and-out teenage domestic violence victim Zero. Jones' jaunty piano melody is embellished by sweeps of orchestration, lavish vocal harmonies, and tempo changes.
"Skeletons"
Along with "The Returns," the first song to be recorded for the album on January 30, 1980. The song, delivered solo on piano with a string arrangement, is based on the true story of a man who, in a case of mistaken identity, was killed by police in Los Angeles while taking his wife to hospital to give birth.
"Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking" (Jones, David Kalish)
Co-written with David Kalish, this is a bebop tribute to 1950s R&B icons, with a finger-snapping guitar riff and an in-studio male vocal chorus. It is one of the album's most upbeat songs and one of the few not to feature significant tempo/rhythm changes. The rhythm of the song is driven by a funk style bass line played by Chuck Rainey and percussion boxes and thighs played by Steve Gadd.
"Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)"
Another ode to Waits, this references "rainbow sleeves" in its lyrics; Waits' song "Rainbow Sleeves" was later to be recorded by Jones on her EP album Girl at Her Volcano. The song begins jauntily with a jazz horn melody before the horns fade out, making a return for the coda.
"A Lucky Guy"
Along with "The Returns," perhaps the album's simplest song musically, here Jones appears jealous of Waits' apparent ease to get on with life at the end of the relationship ("he's a lucky guy/he doesn't worry about me when I'm gone.")
"Traces of the Western Slopes" (Sal Bernardi, Jones)
Co-written with then-boyfriend Sal Bernardi, this is an eight-minute epic again detailing bohemian nightlife and referencing Edgar Allan Poe.
"The Returns"
A soft, simple ending delivered solo on piano with string arrangement, much like the closer to the previous album, "After Hours." It is also the album's shortest composition.
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