C

[Verse 1]
C
The festival was over, and
    F                            C
The boys were all plannin' for a fall
C
The cabaret was quiet
  F                            C
Except for the drillin' in the wall
    F               C
The curfew had been lifted and
    G                  C
The gamblin' wheel shut down
F               C
Anyone with any sense
    G
Had already left town
       C
He was standin' in the doorway
F                G       C
Lookin' like the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 2]
C
He moved across the mirrored room
 F                            C
"Set 'em up for everyone," he said
C
Then everyone commenced to do
     F
What they'd been doin'
                      C
Before he moved their heads
        F              C
Then he walked up to a stranger, and
   G                C
He asked him with a grin
           F               C
"Could you kindly tell me, mister
     G
What time the show begins?"
   C
He moved into the corner,
F                  G       C
Face down like the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 3]
C
Backstage the girls were playin'
F                     C
Five-card stud by the stairs
C
Lily had two queens
        F              C
She was hopin' for a third,
   F         C
To match her pair.
   F                     C
Outside the streets were fillin' up, and
  G               C
A window was open wide,
   F                C
A gentle breeze was blowin',
          G
You could feel it from inside.
     C
Lily called another bet, and
F           G       C
Drew up the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 4]
C
Big Jim was no one's fool
   F                             C
He owned the town's only diamond mine
C
He made his usual entrance
        F                   C
Lookin' all so dandy and so fine
         F              C
With his bodyguards and silver cane, and
G             C
Every hair in place
   F                       C
He took whatever he wanted to, and
   G
He laid it all to waste
        C
But his bodyguards and his silver cane
F                          G       C
They were no match for the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 5]
C
Rosemary combed her hair, and
         F             C
Took the carriage into town
C
She slipped into the side door
F                             C
Lookin' like a queen without a crown
    F                   C
She fluttered her false eyelashes and
G                C
Whispered in his ear
     F                        C
"I'm sorry, darlin', that I'm late"
       G
But he didn't seem to hear
       C
He was starin' into space
F           G       C
Over at the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 6]
 C
"Well I know I've seen that face somewhere"
    F                      C
Big Jim was thinkin' to himself
 C
"Maybe down in Mexico or
  F                       C
A picture upon somebody's shelf"
             F              C
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet, and
    G                C
The house lights did dim, and
       F               C
In the darkness of the room
          G
There was only Jim and him
C
Starin' at the butterfly
F                    G       C
Who just drew up the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 7]
C
Lily was a princess
    F                             C
She was fair-skinned and precious as a child
C
She had that certain something
      F
Was a kind of a flash
               C
Every time she smiled
      F                       C
She'd come away from a broken home
    G                 C
Had lots of strange affairs
     F                    C
With men in every walk of life
    G
Who took her everywhere
          C
But she'd never met anyone
F              G       C
Quite like the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 8]
                            F
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed, and
                    C
Was being wined and dined
C
The drillin' in the wall kept up
    F                           C
But no one seemed to pay it any mind
       F           C
It was known all around
     G                  C
That Lily had Jim's ring, and
  F              C
Nothing would ever come
        G
Between Lily and the king
    C
No, nothin' ever could
F                G       C
Except maybe the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 9]
C
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and
F                            C
Seein' her reflection in the knife
C
She was tired of the attention
         F                             C
Tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife
        F             C
She had done a lot of bad things
     G             C
Even once tried suicide
    F                          C
Was lookin' to do just one good deed
           G
Before she died
        C
She was gazin' to the future
F             G       C
Riding on the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 10]
C
Lily took her dress off
F          C
Buried it away
 C
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him
   F                                      C
"I guess you must have known it would someday
   F                        C
Be careful not to touch the wall
          G                 C
There’s a brand-new coat of paint
    F                        C
I'm glad to see you're still alive, and
       G
You're lookin' like a saint"
         C
Down the hallway footsteps
     F              G       C
Were comin' for the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 11]
C
The Backstage manager was pacin'
F                 C
All around by his chair
 C
"There's somethin' funny going on
  F                               C
I know, I can just feel it in the air"
   F               C
He went to get the hangin' judge
        G                 C
But the hangin' judge was drunk, and
    F             C
The leading actor hurried by
       G
In the costume of a monk
                 C
But there was no actor anywhere
F              G        C
Better than the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 12]
C
Lily had her arms around the man
    F               C
She dearly loved to touch
C
She forgot all about the man
    F                        C
She hated who hounded her so much
   F                  C
"I missed you so" she said to him, and
   G                  C
He thought she was sincere
    G                 D
But in the hallway he found
G
Jealousy and fear
             C
Just another night in the
F          G        C
Life of the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 13]
C
No one knew the circumstance
    F                                C
But they say that it happened pretty quick
C
The door to the dressing room burst open and
  F             C
A cold revolver clicked, and
    F                C
Big Jim was standin' there
    G               C
You couldn't say surprised
    F            C
Rosemary right beside him
G
Steady in her eyes
        C
She was with Big Jim
F            G                     C
But she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 14]
C
Two doors down and the boys
        F                   C
Finally made it through the wall, and
C
They cleaned out the bank safe
          F                    C
Said they got off with quite a haul, and
       F               C
In the darkness of the riverbed
     G             C
They waited on the ground
    F        C
For one more member
    G
Who had business back in town
         C
But they couldn't go no further
F           G       C
Without the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 15]
C
Well the next day was hangin' day
    F                    C
The sky was overcast and black
C
Big Jim lay covered up
       F                    C
Killed by a penknife in the back, and
    F           C
Rosemary on the gallows
          G           C
Lord, she didn't even blink
    F                 C
The hangin' judge was sober
         G
Lord, he hadn't had a drink and
    C
The only person on the scene
F               G       C
Missing was the Jack of Hearts

[Verse 16]
C
Well, the cabaret was quiet now, and
  F                        C
A sign said, "Closed for repair"
C
Lily had already taken all of the dye
F          C
Out of her hair
        F                  C
She was thinkin' about her father
        G           C
Who she very rarely saw
F              C
Thinkin' about Rosemary, and
G
Thinkin' about the law
     C                   G
But, most of all she was thinkin'
                  C
About the Jack of Hearts