Verse
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The / festival was over, and
/ F / C
The / boys were all plannin' for a / fall.
/ C
The / cabaret was quiet,
/ F / C
Ex - / cept 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 - G
Had / a - ready left town.
/ C
He was / standin' in the doorway
F - G / C / /
Lookin' like the Jack of Hear - / arts. / /
Verse 2
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He / moved across the mirrored room,
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"Set em up for everyone," he / said,
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Then / everyone commenced to do,
/ F /
What / they'd been doin',
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Be - fore 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 G
What / time the show be - gins?"
/ C
He / moved into the corner,
F - G / C / /
Face down like the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 3
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Back - stage the girls were playin'
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Five-card stud by the / stairs,
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Lily had two queens,
/ F / C
She was / hopin' for a third,
/ F /C
To match her / pair.
/ F - C
Out - / side the streets were fillin' up, and
/G - C
G / window was open wide,
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G / gentle breeze was blowin',
G G
You could / feel it from in - side.
/ C
Lily called a - nother bet, and
F - G / C / /
Drew up the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 4
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Big Jim was no one's fool,
/ F / C
He owned the town's only diamond / mine,
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He / made his usual entrance,
/ F / C
Lookin' all so dandy and so / fine.
/ F - C
With his / bodyguards and silver cane, and
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Every hair in place,
/F - C
He / took whatever he wanted to, and
/ G - G
He / laid it all to waste,.
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But his / bodyguards and his silver cane,
F - G / C / /
They were / no match for the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 5
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Rose - / mary co - ombed her hair, and
/ F / C
Took the carriage into / town,
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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 - G
But he / didn't seem to hear.
/ C
He was / starin' into space,
F - G / C / /
Over at the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 6
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"Well I / know I've seen that face somewhere,"
/ F / C
Big Jim was thinkin' to him - / self,
/ C
"Maybe down in Mexico or
/ F / C
G / picture up - on some - body'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 - G
There was / only Jim and him,
/ C
Starin' at the butterfly,
F - G / C / /
Who / just up drew up the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 7
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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 af - fairs,
/ F - C
With / men in every walk of life,
/G G
Who / took her every - where.
/ C
But she'd / never met any - one
F - G / C / /
Quite like the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 8
/ C /F
The / hangin' judge came in un - / noticed, and
/F / 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 a - round,
/ G - C
That / Lily had Jim's ring, and
F - C
Nothing would ever come,
/ G - G
Between / Lily and the king.
/ C
No, / nothin' ever could,
F - G / C / /
Ex - / cept maybe the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 9
/ C
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and
/ F / C
Seein' her re - flection in the / knife,
/ C
She was / tired of the at - tention,
/ 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 sui - cide,
/F - /G
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 Hear - / arts
Verse 10
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Lily took her dress off,
/ F / C
Buried it a - / way.
/ C
"Has your / luck run out?" she laughed at him,
/ F / C
"I / guess you must have known it would some - / day.
/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 - G
You're / lookin' like a saint."
/ C
Down the hallway footsteps
/F - G / C / /
Were / comin' for the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 11
/ C /F
The / Backstage manager was / pacin',
/ F / C
All a - round by his / chair.
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"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 - G
In the / costume of a monk.
/ C
But there was no / actor any - where,
F - G / C / /
Better than the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 12
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Lili had her arms a - round the / man
/ F / C
She dearly loved to / touch,
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She for - / got all a - bout 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
/F - C
But / in the hallway he fou - ound
/ G - G
Jealousy and fear
/ C
Just another night in the /
F - G / C / /
life of the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 13
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No one knew the circumstance
/ F / C
But / they say that it happened pretty / quick,
/ C /F
The / door to the dressing room burst / open and
/ F / C
G cold revolver / clicked, and
/ F - C
Big Jim was standin' there,
/ G - C
You / couldn't say sur - prised,
/F - C
Rose - / mary right be - side him,
/G - G
Steady in her eyes.
/ C
She was / with Big Jim,
F - /G / C / /
But she was / leanin' to the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 14
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Two doors down and the / boys,
/ F / C
Finally made it through the / wall, and
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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,
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They / waited on the ground,
/F - C
For / one more member,
/ G - G
Who had / business back in town.
/ C
But they / couldn't go no further,
F - G / C / /
With - out the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 15
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Well the / next day was hangin' day,
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The / sky was overcast and / black,
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Big Jim lay covered up,
/ F / C
Killed by a penknife in the / back, and
/ F - C
Rose - / mary on the gallows,
/ G - C
Lord she / didn't even blink,
/F - C
The / hangin' judge was sober,
/ G - G
Lord, he / hadn't had a drink and,
/ C
The / only person on the scene
F - G / C / /
Missing was the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 16
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Well the / cabaret was quiet now, and
/ F / C
G / sign said, "Closed for re - / pair,"
/ 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 - G
Thinkin' about the law.
/ C /F
But, / most of a - all she was / thinkin'
- G / C / /
About the Jack of Hear - / arts.