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
