Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts

(album: Blood On The Tracks - 2023)

The festival was over, the boys were all planning for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drilling in the wall
Curfew had been lifted and the gambling wheel shut down
And 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 doing before they had 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 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 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 staring 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 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 the Jack of Hearts

Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and a precious child
She did whatever she had to, 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 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 town 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
She was looking to do just one good deed you know before she died
She was gazing to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts

Lily washed her face and took her dress off and buried it away
"Has your luck run 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 his chair
"There's something funny going on," he said, "I can just feel it in the air"
He went to get a hanging judge, but the 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

Lily's arms are locked around the man
That she dearly loved to touch
She forgot about the man she couldn't stand who hounded her so much
"I missed you, so" she said to him, and felt she was sincere
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts

No one knew the circumstance but they said that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a Colt revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standing there, you could say he was surprised
Rosemary 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 and said 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 there somewhere back in town
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts

The next day was hanging day and the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, but 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 very rarely saw
Thinking about Rosemary, thinking about the law
But most of all she was thinking about the Jack of Hearts