The festival was over, 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 lookin' like the Jack of Hearts.



He moved across the mirrored room, Set it ‘em for everyone, he said,

Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he moved 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 playin' five-card stud by the stairs,

Lily had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair.

Outside the streets were fillin' 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 lookin' oh 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 lookin' like a queen without a crown.

She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear,

Sorry, darlin', 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 before, Big Jim was thinkin' to himself,

Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf.-ac