Bob Dylan Lyrics

Album: BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts Lyrics

The festival was over and the boys were all planning for a fall

 The cabaret was quiet except for the drilling in the wall

 The curfew had been lifted and the gambling wheel shut down

 Anyone with any sense had already left town

 He was standing in the doorway looking like the Jack of Hearts.

 

 He moved across the mirrored room "Set it up for everyone" he said

 Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he turned their heads

 Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin

 "Could you kindly tell me friend what time the show begins ?"

 Then he moved into the corner face down like the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Backstage the girls were playing five card stud by the stairs

 Lily had two queens she was hoping for a third to match her pair

 Outside the streets were filling up, the window was open wide

 A gentle breeze was blowing, you could feel it from inside

 Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine

 He made his usual entrance looking so dandy and so fine

 With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place

 He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste

 But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town

 She slipped in through the side door looking like a queen without a crown

 She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear

 "Sorry darling, that I'm late", but he didn't seem to hear

 He was starring into space over at the Jack of Hearts.

 

 "I know I've seen that face somewhere" Big Jim was thinking to himself

 "Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebodys shelf"

 But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim

 And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him

 Starring at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Lily was a princess she was fair-skinned and precious as a child

 She did whatever she had to do she had that certain flash every time she smiled

 She'd come away from a broken home had lots of strange affairs

 With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere

 But she's never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts.

 The hanging judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined

 The drilling in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind

 It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring

 And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king

 No nothing ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Rosemary started drinking hard and seeing her reflection in the knife

 She was tired of the attention tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife

 She had done a lot of bad things even once tried suicide

 Was looking to do just one good deed before she died

 She was gazing to the future riding on the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Lily took her dress off and buried it away

 "Has your luck turn out" she laughed at him'. 

 "Well I guess you must have known it would someday

 Be careful not to touch the wall there's a brand new coat of paint

 I'm glad to see you're still alive you're looking like a saint"

 Down the hallway footsteps were coming for the Jack of Hearts.

 

 The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair

 "There's something funny going on" he said " I can just feel it in the air"

 He went to get the hanging judge but the hanging judge was drunk

 As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk

 There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts.

 

 No one knew the circumstance, but they say it happened pretty quick

 The door to the dressing room burst open a cold revolver clicked

 And big Jim was standing there ya couldn't say surprised

 Rosemary right beside him steady in her eyes

 She was with big Jim but she was leaning to the Jack of Hearts.

 

 Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall

 And cleaned out the bank safe it's said that they got off with quite a haul

 In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground

 For one more member who had business back in town

 But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts.

 

 The next day was hanging day the sky was overcast and black

 Big Jim lay covered up killed by a penknife in the back

 And Rosemary on the gallows she didn't even blink

 The hanging judge was sober he hadn't had a drink

 The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts.

 The cabaret was empty now a sign said. "Closed for repair"

 Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair

 She was thinking about her father who she was rarely saw

 Thinking about Rosemary and thinking about the law

 But most of all she was thinking about the Jack of Hearts.