Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
instrumental intro
= Verse 1
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1. The festival was over and the boys were all plannin’
for a fall,
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the
cabaret was quiet, except for the drilling in the wall.
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The curfew had been lifted and
the gambling wheel shut down,
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anyone
with any sense had already left town,
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he
was standing in the doorway, looking like the Jack of Hearts.
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2. He moved across the mirrored room, “Set it up for everyone”, he said,
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then
everyone commenced to do what they were doin’
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before
he turned their heads.
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Then he walked up to a
stranger and he asked him with a grin,
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“Could you kindly tell me,
friend, what time the show begins?”
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Then he moved into the corner,
face down like the Jack of Hearts.
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3. Backstage the girls were playing five-card stud by the stairs,
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Lily had two queens, she was
hoping for a third to match her pair.
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Outside the streets were
filling up, the window was open wide,
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a
gentle breeze was blowing, you could feel it from inside,
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Lily called another bet and
drew up the Jack of Hearts.
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4. Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine,
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he
made his usual entrance, looking so dandy and so fine.
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With his bodyguards and silver
cane and every hair in place,
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he
took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste,
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but
his bodyguards and silver cane were no match
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for
the Jack of Hearts.
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5. Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town,
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she
slipped in thru’ the side door, looking like a queen without a crown.
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She fluttered her false
eyelashes and whispered in his ear,
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“Sorry, darling, that I’m
late,” but he didn’t seem to hear,
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he
was starin’ into space, over at the Jack of Hearts.
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6.”I know I’ve seen that face somewhere”, Big Jim was thinking to
himself,
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maybe
down in Mexico or a picture upon somebody’s shelf.
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But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did
dim,
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and
in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him,
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starin’ at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of
Hearts.
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7. Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned
and precious as a child,
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she
did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash
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every
time she smiled.
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She had come away from a
broken home, had lots of strange affairs,
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with
men in every walk of life which took her everywhere,
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but
she’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts.
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8. The hangin’ judge came in, unnoticed and
was being wined and dined,
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the drillin’ in the wall kept up, but no one seemed to pay it
any mind.
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It was known all around that
Lily had Jim’s ring,
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and
nothing would ever come between Lily and the King,
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no,
nothing ever would, except maybe the Jack of Hearts.
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9. Rosemary started drinkin’ hard, and seein’ her reflection in the knife,
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she
was tired of the attention, tired of playing the role of Big Jim’s wife.
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She had done a lot of bad
things, even once tried suicide,
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was
looking to do just one good deed before she died,
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she
was gazing to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts.
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10. Lily took her dress off, buried it away,
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“Has your luck run out?” she
laughed at him,
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“well,
I guess you must have known it would someday.
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D A D
Be careful not to touch the
wall, there’s a brand new coat of paint,
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I’m glad to see you’re still
alive, you’re looking like a saint.”
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Down the hallway footsteps
were coming for the Jack of Hearts.
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11. The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair,
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“There’s something funny going
on”, he said, “ I can just feel it in the air.”
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He went to get the hangin’ judge, but the hangin’
judge was drunk,
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as
the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk,
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there
was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts.
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12. No one knew the circumstance, but they say it happened very quick,
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the
door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked.
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And Big Jim was standing
there, you couldn’t say surprised,
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Rosemary right beside him,
steady in her eyes,
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she
was with Big Jim but she was leaning to the Jack of Hearts.
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13. Two doors down, the boys finally made it through the wall,
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and
cleaned out the bank safe, it’s said they got off with quite a haul.
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In the darkness by the
riverbed they waited on the ground,
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for
one more member who had business back in town,
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but
they couldn’t go no further without the Jack of Hearts.
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14. The next day was hangin’ day, the sky was
overcast and black,
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Big Jim lay covered up,
killed by a penknife in the back.
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And Rosemary on the gallows,
she didn’t even blink,
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the
hangin’ judge was sober, he hadn’t had any drink,
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the
only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts.
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15. The cabaret was empty now, a sign said “Closed
for repair”,
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Lily had already taken all
of the dye out of her hair.
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She was thinking about her father who she very rarely saw,
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thinkin’ about Rosemary and thinkin’
about the law,
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but
most of all she was thinkin’ about the Jack of
Hearts.
+ instrumental = verse 15
(cover in C) (Bob Dylan)