The festival was over
And the boys were all plannin' for a fall,
The cabaret was quiet -
Except for the drilling in the wall.
The curfew had been lifted
And the gamblin' wheel shut down,
Anyone with any sense had already left town.
He was standing in the doorway
Lookin' like the Jack of Hearts.
He moved across the mirrored room,
"Set?em up for everyone," he said,
Then everyone commenced to do
What they've been doin'
Before he moved their heads.
He walked up to a stranger
And he asked him with a grin,
"Could you kindly tell me, mister,
What time the show begins?"
He moved into the corner,
Face down like the Jack of Hearts.
Backstage the girls were playin'
Five-card stud by the stairs,
Lily had two queens, and she was hopin'
For a third to match her pair.
Outside the streets were fillin' up,
And the window was open wide,
A gentle breeze was blowin',
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
Lookin' oh-so dandy and so fine.
With his bodyguards and his silver cane
And every hair in place,
He took whatever he wanned to
And he laid it all to waste.
But his bodyguards and his silver cane
They 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
Lookin' like a queen without a crown.
She fluttered her false eyelashes
And whispered in his ear,
"I'm sorry, darlin', that I'm late,"
But he didn't seem to hear.
He was staring into space
Over at the Jack of Hearts.
"Well, I know I've seen that face somewhere,"
Big Jim was thinking to himself,
"Maybe down in Mexico
Or a picture upon somebody's 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,
Staring at the butterfly
Who just drew up the Jack of Hearts.
Lily was a princess,
She was fair-skinned and precious as a child,
She had that certain something,
Was a kind of a 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
Who took her everywhere.
But she'd never met anyone
Quite like the Jack of Hearts.
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed
And was being wined and dined,
The drillin' 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 could ever come between
Lily and the king.
No, nothin' ever could
Except maybe the Jack of Hearts.
Rosemary started drinkin' hard
And seein' her reflection in the knife,
She was tired of the attention,
Tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife.
She had done a lot of bad things,
Even once tried suicide,
Was lookin' to do just one good deed
Before she died.
She was gazin' to the future,
Riding on the Jack of Hearts.
Lily took her dress off,
And buried it away.
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him,
"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,
And you're lookin' like a saint."
Down the hallway footsteps
Were comin' for the Jack of Hearts.
The backstage manager
Was pacing all around by his chair.
"There's something funny going on,
I know I can just feel it in the air."
He went to get the hanging judge,
But the hanging judge was drunk,
And the leading actor hurried by
In the costume of a monk.
There was no actor anywhere
Better than the Jack of Hearts.
Lily had her arms around the man
She dearly loved to touch,
She forgot all about the man she hated
Who hounded her so much.
"I've missed you so," she said to him,
And he felt she was sincere,
But in the hallway he felt jealousy and fear.
Just another night
In the life of the Jack of Hearts.
Well, no one knew the circumstance,
But they say it happened pretty quick,
The door to the dressing room burst open
And a cold revolver clicked.
And Big Jim was standin' there,
You couldn't say surprised,
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes.
She was with Big Jim
But she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts.
Two doors down,
And the boys finally made it through the wall,
Cleaned out the bank safe,
Said that they got off with quite a haul.
And in the darkness of 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.
Well, the next day was hangin' day,
The sky was overcast and black,
Big Jim lay covered up,
Killed by a penknife in the back.
And Rosemary on the gallows - roar! -
She didn't even blink,
And the hangin' judge was sober - Lord! -
He hadn't had a drink.
And the only person on the scene
Missin' was the Jack of Hearts.
Well, the cabaret was quiet now,
And a sign said, "Closed for repair,"
Lily had already taken
All of the dye out of her hair.
She was thinkin' about her father,
Who she very rarely saw,
Thinkin' about Rosemary
And thinkin' about the law.
But, most of all
She was thinkin' about the Jack of Hearts.
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
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