Verse
/ G#
The / festival was over, and
/ C# / G#
The / boys were all plannin' for a / fall.
/ G#
The / cabaret was quiet,
/ C# / G#
Ex - / cept for the drillin' in the / wall.
/ C# - G#
The / curfew had been lifted and
/ D# - G#
The / gamblin' wheel shut down,
C# - G#
Anyone with any sense,
/ D# - D#
Had / a - ready left town.
/ G#
He was / standin' in the doorway
C# - D# / G# / /
Lookin' like the Jack of Hear - / arts. / /
Verse 2
/ G#
He / moved across the mirrored room,
/ C# / G#
"Set em up for everyone," he / said,
/ G#
Then / everyone commenced to do,
/ C# /
What / they'd been doin',
/ C# - / G#
Be - fore he moved their / heads.
/ C# - G#
Then he / walked up to a stranger, and
/ D# - G#
He / asked him with a grin,
/ C# - G#
"Could you / kindly tell me, mister,
/D# D#
What / time the show be - gins?"
/ G#
He / moved into the corner,
C# - D# / G# / /
Face down like the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 3
/ G#
Back - stage the girls were playin'
/C# / G#
Five-card stud by the / stairs,
/ G#
Lily had two queens,
/ C# / G#
She was / hopin' for a third,
/ C# /G#
To match her / pair.
/ C# - G#
Out - / side the streets were fillin' up, and
/D# - G#
D# / window was open wide,
/ C# - G#
D# / gentle breeze was blowin',
D# D#
You could / feel it from in - side.
/ G#
Lily called a - nother bet, and
C# - D# / G# / /
Drew up the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 4
/ G#
Big Jim was no one's fool,
/ C# / G#
He owned the town's only diamond / mine,
/ G#
He / made his usual entrance,
/ C# / G#
Lookin' all so dandy and so / fine.
/ C# - G#
With his / bodyguards and silver cane, and
/ D# - G#
Every hair in place,
/C# - G#
He / took whatever he wanted to, and
/ D# - D#
He / laid it all to waste,.
/ G#
But his / bodyguards and his silver cane,
C# - D# / G# / /
They were / no match for the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 5
/ G#
Rose - / mary co - ombed her hair, and
/ C# / G#
Took the carriage into / town,
/ G#
She / slipped into the side door,
/ C# / G#
Lookin' like a queen without a / crown.
/ C# - G#
She / fluttered her false eyelashes and
/ D# - G#
Whispered in his ear,
/C# - G#
"I'm / sorry, darlin', that I'm late,"
/ D# - D#
But he / didn't seem to hear.
/ G#
He was / starin' into space,
C# - D# / G# / /
Over at the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 6
/ G#
"Well I / know I've seen that face somewhere,"
/ C# / G#
Big Jim was thinkin' to him - / self,
/ G#
"Maybe down in Mexico or
/ C# / G#
D# / picture up - on some - body's / shelf."
/ C# - G#
But then the / crowd began to stamp their feet, and
/ D# - G#
The / house lights did dim, and
C# - G#
In the darkness of the room,
/ D# - D#
There was / only Jim and him,
/ G#
Starin' at the butterfly,
C# - D# / G# / /
Who / just up drew up the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 7
/ G#
Lily was a princess,
/ C# / G#
She was / fair-skinned and precious as a / child,
/ G#
She / had that certain something
/ C# /
Was a kind of a flash,,
/ G#
Every time she / smiled.
/ C# - G#
She'd / come away from a broken home,
/D# - G#
Had / lots of strange af - fairs,
/ C# - G#
With / men in every walk of life,
/D# D#
Who / took her every - where.
/ G#
But she'd / never met any - one
C# - D# / G# / /
Quite like the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 8
/ G# /C#
The / hangin' judge came in un - / noticed, and
/C# / G#
Was being wined and / dined,
/ G#
The / drillin' in the wall kept up,
/ C# / G#
But / no one seemed to pay it any / mind.
/ C# - G#
It was / known all a - round,
/ D# - G#
That / Lily had Jim's ring, and
C# - G#
Nothing would ever come,
/ D# - D#
Between / Lily and the king.
/ G#
No, / nothin' ever could,
C# - D# / G# / /
Ex - / cept maybe the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 9
/ G#
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and
/ C# / G#
Seein' her re - flection in the / knife,
/ G#
She was / tired of the at - tention,
/ C# / G#
Tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's / wife.
/ C# - G#
She had / done a lot of bad things,
/ D# - G#
Even / once tried sui - cide,
/C# - /D#
Was / lookin' to do just one good / deed
- D#
Before she died.
/ G#
She was / gazin' to the future,
C# - D# / G# / /
Riding on the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 10
/ G#
Lily took her dress off,
/ C# / G#
Buried it a - / way.
/ G#
"Has your / luck run out?" she laughed at him,
/ C# / G#
"I / guess you must have known it would some - / day.
/C# G#
Be/careful not to touch the wall’
/ D# G#
There’s a /brand-new coat of paint,
/C# - G#
I'm / glad to see you're still alive, and
/ D# - D#
You're / lookin' like a saint."
/ G#
Down the hallway footsteps
/C# - D# / G# / /
Were / comin' for the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 11
/ G# /C#
The / Backstage manager was / pacin',
/ C# / G#
All a - round by his / chair.
/ G#
"There's / somethin' funny going on,
/ C# / G#
" I / know, I can just feel it in the / air."
/ C# - G#
He / went to get the hangin' judge,
/ D# - G#
But the / hangin' judge was drunk, and
/C# - G#
The / leading actor hurried by
/ D# - D#
In the / costume of a monk.
/ G#
But there was no / actor any - where,
C# - D# / G# / /
Better than the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 12
/ G# /C#
Lili had her arms a - round the / man
/ C# / G#
She dearly loved to / touch,
/ G#
She for - / got all a - bout the man,
/ C# / G#
She / hated who hounded her so / much,
/ C# - G#
I / missed you so she said to him, and
/ D# - G#
He / thought she was sincere
/C# - G#
But / in the hallway he fou - ound
/ D# - D#
Jealousy and fear
/ G#
Just another night in the /
C# - D# / G# / /
life of the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 13
/ G#
No one knew the circumstance
/ C# / G#
But / they say that it happened pretty / quick,
/ G# /C#
The / door to the dressing room burst / open and
/ C# / G#
D# cold revolver / clicked, and
/ C# - G#
Big Jim was standin' there,
/ D# - G#
You / couldn't say sur - prised,
/C# - G#
Rose - / mary right be - side him,
/D# - D#
Steady in her eyes.
/ G#
She was / with Big Jim,
C# - /D# / G# / /
But she was / leanin' to the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 14
/ G#
Two doors down and the / boys,
/ C# / G#
Finally made it through the / wall, and
/ G#
They / cleaned out the bank safe,
/ C# / G#
Said they got off with quite a / haul, and
/ C# - G#
In the / darkness of the riverbed,
/ D# - G#
They / waited on the ground,
/C# - G#
For / one more member,
/ D# - D#
Who had / business back in town.
/ G#
But they / couldn't go no further,
C# - D# / G# / /
With - out the Jack of Hear - / arts.
Verse 15
/ G#
Well the / next day was hangin' day,
/ C# / G#
The / sky was overcast and / black,
/ G#
Big Jim lay covered up,
/ C# / G#
Killed by a penknife in the / back, and
/ C# - G#
Rose - / mary on the gallows,
/ D# - G#
Lord she / didn't even blink,
/C# - G#
The / hangin' judge was sober,
/ D# - D#
Lord, he / hadn't had a drink and,
/ G#
The / only person on the scene
C# - D# / G# / /
Missing was the Jack of Hear - / arts
Verse 16
/ G#
Well the / cabaret was quiet now, and
/ C# / G#
D# / sign said, "Closed for re - / pair,"
/ G#
Lily had already taken / all of the dye
/ C# / G#
Out of her / hair.
/ C# - G#
She was / thinkin' about her father,
/ D# - G#
Who she / very rarely saw,
C# - G#
Thinkin' about Rosemary, and
/D# - D#
Thinkin' about the law.
/ G# /C#
But, / most of a - all she was / thinkin'
- D# / G# / /
About the Jack of Hear - / arts.