Updated 13 Nov 2017 with links to other versions of the song – I really hope you try them if you have not heard them before – they offer a completely different set of insights into the song. Reading my commentary first is optional.
By Tony Attwood
The song is upbeat, and the organist makes mistakes (playing I-IV at the end of the harmonica solo in the intro before Dylan starts singing instead of holding the tonic, forgetting to play during the “Staring at the butterfly” line)… Yet he has the simplest of parts to play – so why wasn’t it re-recorded or over dubbed? Ah – because Bob doesn’t do that!
And thinking of that, and the fact that the song is about gambling, made me think Bob himself likes to gamble with the outcome. (Incidentally if you do, do take a look at UK casinos).
But back to the song, certainly Dylan’s voice is absolutely spot on for the song. The chords are primarily I, IV, and V, there’s a nice descending bass line at the end, and the bass player is perfection – ok it is not a complex bass line but it requires tenacity and determination to keep going through this length of song, and he delivers.
So, what to make of it all?
The story almost makes sense but no, it doesn’t. Every time you try to make it mean something it slips through your hands and means something else.
And yet actually it is not that difficult as some of the reviews have suggested. The notion of interwoven characters who act in ways that we can’t quite understand, as if they are flitting in and out of each other’s lives sometimes touching our lives without our ever quite knowing what they do, why they do it, and who they are, is a theme of Dylan’s.
Indeed we get darker versions of this with the songs of disdain – Like a Rolling Stone, Can you please crawl out your window?, Positively Fourth Street, etc etc. You know the person in each song, but only in part. You never quite know why.
What Dylan has done here is stripped away the disdain (the bouncy melody makes the characters actually seem quite nice even though one of them is a hanging judge, one is a bank robber…) and given us multiple comic book characters rather than the one central person of Rolling Stone, 4th Street etc.
But this is not new. The song that developed this theme first time around was Visions of Johanna in which the essence of Johanna, Louise and Little Boy Lost is never resolved. Indeed it is a noticeable parallel between “Visions” and Lily, Rosemary etc that not only are there three characters, but also two of the three have names while the third is known by a title (Jack of Hearts / Little Boy Lost).
In both cases the existence of some sort of story line tempts us to assume that there is a sense that moves naturally through time, but it never works. There is a sequence, but…
No, as a total song you have to stretch the imagination to make it make sense, and in fact that is the brilliance of the song; it is a song that gives hints which send the mind spinning without actually giving us explanations.
But we also need to consider the context of the album on which it appears. Remember also the lack of logical sequence in Tangled up in blue which starts the album, and the sudden confusion between “he” and “I” in Simple Twist of Fate Or the sudden use of a very non-blues lyric in “Meet me in the Morning” after a totally blues approach up to that point.
Indeed the whole album reeks of confusion disguised as straightforwardness. We think we are getting the hang of things, and then Dylan throws in something that knocks us off balance.
The Jack of Hearts is a bank robber recently come into town, Lily and Rosemary have parts to play in the unfolding drama, and unlike Johanna we get some other characters, Big Jim owning a diamond mine etc.
But that brings up another issue. Let us pause for a moment to consider diamond mines. I’ve always placed the song in the Wild West – the whole lawlessness of the story makes me feel this is so. But where are the diamond mines in the wild west – or come to that anywhere else in the US?
In fact there have only ever been two diamond mines in the US. A small mine that operated between 1996 and 2002 (Kelsey Lake Diamond Mine near Fort Collins, Colorado) and Crater of Diamonds near Murfreesboro, Arkansas which was worked at the start of the 20th century but is now a tourist attraction where you can pay a fee to dig and see what you can find.
Dylan would not have known of Kelsey Lake mine but might have known about the Arkansas mine. Duluth, Minnesota where Dylan was born, is 1000 miles away, so it is not a local reference. The chances are it is not a reference to any diamond mine in real life – just a story line.
Indeed this reference to the non-existent mine should tell us all that the story does not make sense in terms of the real world – for if the mine is not there, then why should the characters or the story be considered in a real-world form either?
What we get in the first verse tells us that this is a shimmering half representation of life, just like Visions.
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 looking like the Jack of Hearts
Just consider, “Anyone with any sense had already left town” – put another way “you are not going to find any sense here.”
So there is no point in trying to understand what, “Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts” means in reality. It is not reality, it is just an image. Playing cards and life reflecting each other, somehow, although we can’t quite get how, it is a shimmering film.
Indeed in this non-world, when we come to the third verse, it is interesting that Big Jim owned not just the USA’s only diamond mine, he “owned the town’s only diamond mine”. As if there might be two!
But in saying that we cannot take sense from the story, we should not ignore the character of the Jack of Hearts – the sort of mythological man who can see off everyone. A Harlequin, a joker, a man who moves from the playing cards into real life and back, so that even Jim can’t handle him. The central character moves off the cards and into the room and out again. It doesn’t make sense, it is not meant to make sense.
The existence of the line, “But she’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts” reinforces the fact – he’s not real, he’s just an image, a wandering man, the drifter, the Mysterious Stranger – a commonplace device in contemporary literature and media. And so it has always been, for in mediaeval literature, we had the Wandering Jew. The point is not to answer the question, “who is this man?”; the point is to ask the question.
It is an approach that is reinforced by the fact that the Jack of Hearts ambiguously turns up at the end of lines…
No, nothing ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts
She was gazing to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts
Down the hallway footsteps were coming for the Jack of Hearts
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts
And from the missing verse (missing from Blood on the Tracks that is)
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts
and as we approach the end…
The only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts
In many senses the issue of confused identities, confused time, and the stranger who comes in and out of our lives is the theme of Blood on the Tracks. Tangled up in Blues and Simple Twist of Fate both echo this totally. Just think how close in terms of being outside of the touchable world, the woman is in Twist of Fate:
A saxophone some place far off played
As she was walking by the arcade
As the light burst through a beat-up shade where he was waking up,
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate
And then again consider Tangled up in Blue. If you want a contemporary Drifter who comes in and out of our lives and who is endlessly enigmatic consider:
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
In the real, real world who does that?
Thus we see Dylan’s techniques for giving us half-images of the world which he uses on Blood on the Tracks. He confuses people, he mixes up the story, characters come and go, and the sequence of events through time is not adhered to. In short it is a picture drawn in words and music, but always, always, we have the mysterious outsider who comes into our life and turns the whole thing upside down.
That’s just how it goes.
https://vimeo.com/81862481
It has only ever been played once live on stage – in 1976.
Here’s the acoustic version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGkm8y-dPlM
And Joan Baez
You might also enjoy
- Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts: revealing the source of this and other Dylan songs (Part I).
- Bob Dylan And Damon Runyon: Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts And Other Songs (Part II)
- Source Of Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts (Part III)
What else is on the site
1: Over 450 reviews of Dylan songs. There is an index to these in alphabetical order at the foot of the home page, and an index to the songs in the order they were written in the Chronology Pages.
2: The Chronology. We’ve taken all the songs we can find recordings of and put them in the order they were written (as far as possible) not in the order they appeared on albums. The chronology is more or less complete and is now linked to all the reviews on the site. We have also recently started to produce overviews of Dylan’s work year by year. The index to the chronologies is here.
3: Bob Dylan’s themes. We publish a wide range of articles about Bob Dylan and his compositions. There is an index here. A second index lists the articles under the poets and poetic themes cited – you can find that here.
4: The Discussion Group We now have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link
5: Bob Dylan’s creativity. We’re fascinated in taking the study of Dylan’s creative approach further. The index is in Dylan’s Creativity.
6: You might also like: A classification of Bob Dylan’s songs and partial Index to Dylan’s Best Opening Lines
And please do note The Bob Dylan Project, which lists every Dylan song in alphabetical order, and has links to licensed recordings and performances by Dylan and by other artists, is starting to link back to our reviews.
I had never considered the parallels between Visions and this piece, very interesting.
What do you make of the fact that there are two different studio recordings of Blood on the Tracks (“unreleased” NYC version/officially released Minneapolis version)? Along with the sparse instrumentation and less rehearsed sound of the earlier New York recordings, the lyrics to this song in particular are among starkest differences between the two. Significant, or just happenstance? As with most of his work, clearly defined answers are probably inaccurate answers, but I’d be interested in hearing your take.
nice.
what do you thing about dylan’s approach to tarots?
the jack of hearts become the sad lover with the face down, see the tarots of Marseille.
it is the missing card because he gives sense to the action of the song: love, betrayal, murder…
good bye
It’s obviously a diamond mine because of the card game motif. Owning the diamond mine is akin to cheating at cards with the suit of diamonds. As for “In the real, real world who does that?” – lots of people.
Ok, I’m going to break this down for you, since I’m not sure you are picking up on the plot here. True, there are many non-sequitur songs in the Dylan canon. And the vast majority of the songs on Blood on the Tracks fall into these more “atmospheric” tunes, which is why I believe a lot of people mis-interperate this song. But I think, without much doubt, that this is a story ballad with a strong, definitive, and very deliberate narrative, perhaps more easily interpreted in the context of his subsequent, much more plot driven album, Desire.
If taken as a strait-forward narrative, the song actually makes perfect sense, and utilizes very common literary devices such as foreshadowing, character development, symbolism, and a plot line with rising action that culminates in a climax which ultimately resolves the tension between the protagonist and the antagonist. High-school literature stuff. Of course there is literary symbolism, and of course this is not a story song rooted in the “real” world, such as Hurricane, or Hattie Carrol, but there is a very clear narrative. I’m going to break it down for you here, verse for verse.
“The festival was over, the boys were all plannin’ for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin’ in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin’ wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standin’ in the doorway lookin’ like the Jack of Hearts”
First verse sets the stage. In the context of the song, there was “literally” a festival. Meaning, there was some kind of communal gathering that brought a bunch of people to town. The “boys planning for the fall” are the Jack of Heart’s crew, who are planning to break, or “fall” the wall to the bank safe. The “drilling in the wall” is more evidence of this foreshadowing. All the regular folks had already left town (since the festival was over) and all that is left are the trouble makers, rabble rousers, ect. Hence, enter the JOH.
“He moved across the mirrored room, “Set it up for everyone,” he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin’ before he 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”
Here’s something I didn’t know till I started researching this song. “Set it up for everyone” means the JOH bought everyone a round of drinks. The rest of this verse is pretty strait forward. The JOH buys everyone a round, asks what time the show starts, then moves unassumingly into a corner to presumably watch the show.
“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 blowin’, you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts”
Perspecitive Change: now we are back stage and introduced to Lily, one of the performers in the show, who is “literally” playing cards backstage. There is some symbolic foreshadowing here. She has has two queens, but she needs a third to not lose the hand (that queen “figuratively” being Rosemary). She draws the JOH instead (of course more symbolic foreshadowing) but she still needs Rosemary (who will ultimately save her)
“Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin’ 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”
Enter: Big Jim, the “The King of Diamonds”. Here we have our antagonist. The diamond mine thing throws alot of people off here, since the plot borrows themes from the Spaghetti Western genre popular in the 60’s and 70’s, but of course there are no diamond mines in the west. But, metaphorically, lets just say Big Jim owns the town. He controls all the wealth. And, of course again, diamonds are the opposite suit of the protagonist’s suit, hearts. More symbolism in there that I don’t have to point out.
“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 starin’ into space over at the Jack of Hearts”
Enter Rosemary, who is “literally” Big Jim’s wife. She’s late to the show, so she slips in the back so as to not make a scene. Here we get a gimpse of their dysfuctional relationship. Rosemary tries to please Jim, but Jim is always preoccupied, as he his here with the JOH.
“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”
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the houselights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin’ at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts
Big Jim thinks he notices the JOH. In the context of the song, he has probably seen him on a wanted poster, though he cant seem to place it. Anyway, meanwhile, the house lights dim and the show starts, and Lily (who just “literally” drew the Jack of Hearts in her card game) starts her risque, burlesque type show, which draws the simultaneous attention of Jim and the JOH.
“Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do, 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’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts”
Just some pretty strait forward character development on Lily. Also alludes to the romantic relationship between her and the JOH.
“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 would ever come between Lily and the king
No, nothin’ ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts”
More plot development. The hanging judge is introduced because he will serve a role later in the hanging of Rosemary. Also, presumably, I think it’s safe to say that the JOH is the one wining and dining him, again part of the ruse to distract everyone from the “drilling in the wall/bank robery” which is the real goal of the JOH. Also, it is revealed that Lily is widely known to be Jim’s mistress. Giving Rosemary cause to contemplate murder, as we see in the next verse:
“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”
Pure foreshadowing here. We are introduced to the murder weapon, and the motivation for Rosemary to commit murder on her unfaithful husband.
“Lily washed her face, 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 lookin’ like a saint”
Down the hallway footsteps were comin’ for the Jack of Hearts”
Change in perspective. Now we are backstage again, in Lily’s dressing room after her performance. The JOH is with her, and they have a little romantic exchange. Take note of the line “you’re looking like a saint” as that is foreshadowing for an important event in the next verse. Perhaps the one line that I don’t feel is clear in the whole song is the “brand new coat of paint” line. That one is a bit ambiguous, and not sure it functions toward the plot.
“The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
“There’s something funny going on,” he said, “I can just feel it in the air”
He went to get the hangin’ judge, but the hangin’ 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”
Ok, so more foreshadowing and the final rise of action. The backstage manager senses some shit is about to go down. I think it’s pretty clear here that the JOH is the one in the Monk costume, slipping out of Lily’s room before the climax. He is, after all, the protagonist, or the “leading actor”. Also, remember Lily said just momements ago that he looked” like a saint”, which seemed at the time like a sly remark, but was foreshadowing at it’s best.
“No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin’ there, ya 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”
This verse is where the “climax” happens, the big scene where Big Jim is murdered by his wife Rosemary. Actually, quite brilliantly and intentionally, the details of the climax are left a bit murky, but they become clear during the next few verses. Big Jim busts into Lily’s room out of Jealosy, as he suspects the JOH is in there with his mistress (although the JOH already escaped, but Jim doesn’t know. He pulls a “cold revolver” on Lily meaning an unloaded revolver, which just clicks when he pulls the trigger instead of firing. So someone took the bullets out of his gun (Rosemary is the only one who would have that kind of access to him). Then, Rosemary comes up beside Jim and stabs Jim in the back with her pen knife (the same one she saw her reflection in verses previously)
“Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it’s said that 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 back in town
But they couldn’t go no further without the Jack of Hearts”
In typical literary fashion, multiple scenes are happening at the same time during the climax. So as it turns out, at the very moment that Big Jim was murdered, the JOH’s crew broke through the wall and stole all of the money. (Jim’s money presumably, since he did in fact own the town.) You can see this happening a Godfather III esque style scene, where at the exact moment Rosemary drives the pen into Jim’s back, the JOH’s crew finally break through the wall to the safe.
“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, she didn’t even blink
The hangin’ judge was sober, he hadn’t had a drink
The only person on the scene missin’ was the Jack of Hearts”
If it wasn’t clear enough yet, Dylan does us the favor of clarifying any obscurity. Rosemary killed Jim with her knife, and Jack disappeared to catch up with his boys and run away with all of Jim’s cash.
“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 thinkin’ ’bout her father, who she very rarely saw
Thinkin’ ’bout Rosemary and thinkin’ about the law
But most of all she was thinkin’ ’bout the Jack of Hearts”
Conclusion: Lily is seen alone, vulnerable, without the typical disguises of the stage, contemplating the tumultuous events of the previous night. Whether she was just a pawn in the JOH’s game, or wether the JOH did actually care for her is unclear and unimportant. He’s gone, and she feels the tragedy of the events.
loved your interpretation of this great Dylan song. However, you are slightly off in one of the later verses. It’s not “cold revolver click”, it’s “Colt revolver click”. As in the brand of single action revolver used in the old west. A single action revolver requires the user to manually thumb back the hammer in order to ready it for shooting. This causes an audible click but does mean the gun was fired. This makes sense since the target of his attack. (jOH) was no longer in the room.
Correction to above :
“does not mean the gun was fired”.
The verse “be careful not to touch the wall there’s a brand new coat of paint” is easily explained, the song explains it really “two doors down the boys finally made it thru the wall”. I think access to the bank safe started in Lily’s dressing room, as in they would’ve smashed down the wall, repaired the wall and then repainted it.
even the very start says “the cabaret was quiet except for the drillin’ in the wall”
See the Sgt. Pepper references, then you can start to put the rest of it together.
Hi, Tony
so now we can continue and give back these persons their names.
For me this song is a description of the situation, Bob was in in this time.
First Lilly and Rosemary are one person, one is still the wife of and the other one as a lover of somebodyof Jack of the hearts. So Big Jim is Dylan, then Sara and the lover of Sara. And that is, what Blood on the tracks is all about.
Listen to Tin Angel, same story. Long and wasted years . All stories about that year,
where all the hope to save “his” love was drowning.
Re: Brand new coat of paint. I don’t think the wall could have been just broken down and repainted by the bank robbers, as Bryan Hughes suggests, as there wouldn’t be time. I didn’t understand the significance of this line until someone noted in another article that the caberet was undergoing renovations – that’s why no-one paid attention to the sound of drilling. The line also serves to emphasize Lily’s flippant attitude toward JOH in these lines. She seems to be more concerned he’ll mess up the wall than that he might be in any physical danger from her lover. If Lily has deep feelings or not, she doesn’t show them – this is consistent with her character and way of life.
There are no throwaway lines in Bob’s songs!
There may also be some bitterness between Lily and JOH – yes, this is a great line!
This is about Watergate!
Nixon = Big Jim
Drillin’ in the wall = Reporters Woodward & Bernstein
Rosemary = The Repub party (or his top aides)
Anyone with any sense (had already left town) = Repub Party
“The festival was over, the boys were all plannin’ for a fall – The Boys = Big Jim’s staff
Jack of Hearts = Justice
Festival = Re-election
From above: “at the very moment that Big Jim was murdered, the JOH’s crew broke through the wall and stole all of the money” = Big Jim was impeached and JOH’s crew (Justice + driller’s)
I went through this song more than 30 years ago and can’t quite recall all I had interpreted; but the info above was pretty close to what I had found (in collaboration with a friend)
Thank you guys for all the explanations. Been one of my favorite songs for many years, stayed confused about the meaning.
Not sure why Tony Attwood would remark — concerning the line about handing over a book of poems — that “In the real, real world who does that?” Is there something strange about showing someone a book of poems … that I’m not aware of? If so, I’ve made a fool of myself several times. 🙂
Anyway, if this poet of the thirteenth century is [most probably] Dante, we have another reference, another source to guide the listener; although, I admit, not an easy source to dissect.
The interpretations are great. Thanks.
I bought the album just to listen
to this song,
which I’d heard on an FM station.
I recall my Dad’s words
as he listened along.
“It sounds like
a long train ride.”
I thought the line ‘when the festival was over’… (Isle of Wight/Woodstock or something similar? ) were about the Beatles or his Band planning for the fall – think opposite… Planning to get high.
someone turned on the TV later and some Western came on. Much like the movie Mighty Quinn was a start off place for that song.
Maybe people in his entourage would recognize themselves…maybe not. Dylan had the movie, a melody and those characters….. The story? …well… I am sure Dylan is churning out some drama, personal philosophy and sarcastic humor to create his own theme music for the mystery movie. Our job is to find out what movie he was watching.
I view the “careful not to touch the wall there’s a brand new coat of paint” line as a clear reference to the drilling going on in the wall next door, ie, she’s giving an obvioulsy fake reason not to touch the wall so that the drilling won’t be discovered. So this means that Lily knew what JOH was up to and was signaling to him that she knows by saying coyly, “don’t touch the wall.” And that ties in to her statement just prior about “has your luck run out,” ie, “I know what you’re up to and Big Jim is about to get you, your luck has finally run out.” She has ambivalent feeling for JOH, she loves and is taken by him, but she also relishes the prospect of him getting his comeuppance because he has rejected her or at least is not with her.
I thought the reference to the “brand new coat of paint” meant that if JoH got paint on himself it would be evidence that he had been there, should he get caught later.
Good stuff, everybody. It’s not a song, it’s a movie. Someone once said that about the great Joey Dugan classic “Three Hawks Soarin'”…I knew Joey, and even he would say that his wonderful song doesn’t hold a candle (maybe a matchstick) to this cinematic masterpiece of our Beloved Bob…..One wonders if it refers somehow to Bob getting even with the man who stole Sara from him….or better, perhaps, the man to whom Bob lost her…..did she find a new relationship with a wealthy man? Is Bob the Jack of Hearts….a man who could, through his charisma and fame, woo so many women and use them to somehow ruin the cowbird who stole his nest? A man who could move backstage among the leading ladies, and talk himself into their dressing rooms? But Bob may also be Big Jim, since Sara, at some point , became tired of playing the role of Bob’s wife (he was rumored to be having affairs during their marriage….and the boys drilling through the wall…the musicians led by Bob, the Jack…….Remember the poem on Another Side of Bob Dylan, with the recurring line…. “Jack of Diamonds is a hard card to play”….but the Jack of Hearts is a card that no one sees coming…..yu can always get to the rich man through his woman…he never expects revenge coning from that direction…..
Dylan lightens up Rimbaud a trifle:
“In short, a single Flower: is it/
Lily or Rosemary, live or dead…”
(Rimbaud: On The Subject Of Flowers )
Lily is the Jack o Hearts… Yup, they are one and the same.
Re the “cold revolver”/”colt revolver” issue, when I first heard LR&TJOH 36 odd years ago I always assumed it was Colt revolver. Not that I know much about guns but I had watched enough westerns to draw that conclusion so I was surprised when I was flicking through the Margotin/Guesdon book “Bob Dylan-All the Songs” which I got as an Xmas present and they referred to it as a Cold Revolver. This dissapointed me as I had spotted an error in a book I had only had for an hour.
I got impartial ears on it (daughter) and she thought it was “cold”. Lyric sheets on internet say “cold” but listening to it again it is definitely Colt.
Thanks Tim Sisk
Cannot understand why this song didn’t make Rolling Stone 100 best Dylan songs.
I could be wrong but I think Lily and the Jack of hearts are the same person. Lily left home young and became a gang leader known as her Alias, the Jack of Hearts. Big Jim is Lily’s father and he hounded her as a child before remarrying Rosemary, who Lilly couldn’t treat as her new mother. Lily made a plan to come back home to rob her father and kill him that night. She dresses up as a dancer so she can get Jim alone in the back room without his bodyguards. They are no match for his daughter. And it’s known all around that lily has his ring or heart. Jim loves her and misses her but Doesn’t know what she had planned that night. Big Jim knew he recognized her and realized when the lights got dim she was his “butterfly” or daughter or princess. Jim asked her if her luck ran out since she came back, but she just laughed at him leaving him oblivious. After she changes out of her dress, she puts on the monk outfit. Jim is happy to see she’s still alive and looking like a saint. It does make sense that she didn’t want him to touch the wall and feel the vibrations of the drilling 2 doors down.When Lily hugged him she told him she missed him and that’s when she stabbed him in the back. Then rosemary who was considering killing him herself, kicked in the door to find him already dead, hence why he was not surprised. Lilly was the one with the revolver caulking and pointing it at rosemary, who was seen walking to their room with a knife. Rosemary sat staring at Jim and let Lily sneak out undetected. The back stage manager knew something was wrong when he saw rosemary walking to the dressing room with a knife so while he was looking for help, Lily hurried by looking like the monk to safety. Lily met up with the gang on the river where she cleaned the dye out of her hair and made their escape. Rosemary didn’t kill Jim, but since she wanted to do it, she let them hang her no contest. Lily riding off into the distance starts thinking of all the things and people from that night but most of all she’s thinking about the jack of hearts, or her new life. Ya think?
I initially thought the reference to the “brand new coat of paint” meant that if Jack Of Hearts would be caught as he would have had paint on him.. However I think it makes more sense that Lilly is just joking saying “don’t touch the wall because of the paint” when in fact she knows it is because of the drilling they are doing for the bank robbery.. Dylan could even be referring to them both as an option to how we want to interpretate the sentence.
I think that the “Be careful not to touch the wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint” refers to… the wall is her protection system. No one sees the real Lily. The paint is her make-up.
I’ve done more thinking about this song.
The “paint” is a metaphor for her make-up. Lily puts on a new face
(she is telling the JOH that she is over him – but she’s really not).
My compliments to Bryan Schneider (see comments above).
I think I’ve figured out the occupation of the Jack of Hearts and who Bob Dylan was thinking about when he wrote this song (my take anyway).
My amateur detective work leads me to believe the following.
The occupation of the Jack of Hearts is a fast talking con man and saintly revivalist (and also a bank robber).
Some clues:
CLUE
Where does a preacher go to find some souls that need saving?
(A cabaret full of gambling and drinking)
CLUE
The JOH is somewhat famous.
“I know I’ve seen that face before, Big Jim was thinkin’ to himself
(but, Big Jim would never attend a revival meeting, he could have seen a picture poster of a revival event though).
CLUE
Lily says: I’m glad to see you’re still alive, you’re lookin’ like a saint
(a saint is a preacher).
CLUE
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
(a monk is a preacher).
CLUE
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin’ to the Jack of Hearts”
(Rosemary is leanin’ toward religion and thinking about hell or heaven)
CLUE
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn’t even blink
(Rosemary thinks maybe she’ll be going to heaven)
HOW IT ENDS
Lily leaves the cabaret (taken all of the dye out of her hair).
She is still in love with the JOH. She leaves town to find him.
She does find him and they live happily ever after (at least they try to).
WHO BOB DYLAN WAS THINKING ABOUT AS A MODEL FOR THE JACK OF HEARTS
It had to be Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster).
If anyone knows Bob Dylan personally. Ask him about Elmer.
The song is remarkable because it is a movie, or it could be made in to one or it a condensation of 100 movie plots. The Tom Russel cover of this song is interesting because he splits the narrative between 3 distinct vocalists. Does it server as a metaphor, we can use the song as such if we so desire. The strength of the song is the combination of what the song brings to us and how we transform the song in to something more then was ever intended. Colt and Cold they both progress the story line.
i listened to this song on the loop during a long commute trying to figure it out. the images are so strong. as mentioned above it’s a movie. the movie i saw is quite similar to the fine work of schneider above. i have a few thoughts & questions…
why was there a curfew and why was it lifted?
“everyone commenced to do what they were doin’ before they turned their heads” –> that is, drinking, even more now thanks to the free round. i get kick out of this line.
“Lily had two queens, she was hopin’ for a third to match her pair” –> lily needs a woman’s help. she doesn’t get it
“But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts” –> power and money don’t beat whatever it is that the JOH represents.
“‘I know I’ve seen that face before,’ Big Jim was thinkin’ to himself” –> he probably saw the JOH leaving after tryst with lily… maybe Big J puts it together during the show?
“Lily was a princess” so Rosemarry’s the Queen and Big J is the King… not sure what exactly this means…
“She was gazin’ to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts” –> Rosemarry’s future *depends* on the JOH. He’s charmed her and conned her into killing Big J by this point.
“Lily took her dress off and buried it away” why does Dylan use ‘buried’? That’s a odd choice of words here. is Lily hiding something?
“Be careful not to touch the wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint”??? it’s feels important but I got nothing
“As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk” I didn’t get there in my listenings, but after reading the arguments above and re-listening I’m on board with this being the JOH. well done.
“There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts” –> The JOH is a con man (and in the Monk’s outfit)
“She was with Big Jim but she was leanin’ to the Jack of Hearts” –> Rosemarry is with the JOH in her mind.
“In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground” –> Why did the bank robbers wait around for the JOH instead of skipping out of town with the loot and keeping more for themselves?
“The only person on the scene missin’ was the Jack of Hearts” –> strange words. especially ‘on the scene’. is the JOH in hiding at the hanging?
“Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair” –> love, love the way bob sings this line… i’m not really sure what it means though.
Hello Tony, Thank you for this interesting essay. Join us inside Bob Dylan’s Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/363/Lily,-Rosemary-and-the-Jack-of-Hearts and listen to every version of every song.
All interesting interpretations and comments. While tempted to chime in on the many points, I will limit it to this:
I am surprised that nobody, at least that I read… And I may have missed something… Has mentioned or asked about what is the most obvious “tell” in the song.
First line, second verse… “He moved across the mirrored room… ”
Why is the room mirrored? It’s not for rhyming purposes…it’s the middle of the line. And it’s not for syllabic/spacing purposes… a thousand other two syllable adjectives would have worked, like smoky, crowded, noisy, etc.
It’s mirrored because the characters in this play are reflections of each other. And as we all know, when two mirrors oppose each other, the reflections are endless.
Personally, I feel big Jim and the Jack of hearts are the same person, as are Lily and Rosemary. Take it from there… I don’t have every detail worked out, and I don’t think Dylan intended it to fit neatly in a box with a ribbon wrapped around it. There are loose ends.
We do know Dylan, a Gemini, believes in duality. I actually think the idea is almost omnipresent in his songs.
The song is, as are so many from this time period, about marriage in general, and about his marriage in particular.
I interpreted this as Lily being the Daughter of an estranged JOH and Rosemary, with Lily never having met JOH before at least as an adult.
Rosemary being older was soon to be discarded by Jim for Lily and called in JOH reluctantly to save their daughter from the life Rosemary had unhappily indured, ie Jim’s escort.
in a 2 for 1 JOH comes in frees Lily gets paid and Rosemary sacrifices herself for here Daughter
The one truly brilliant thing I got from this convo is the actor in the monk costume being JOH. Thus “you’re looking like a saint”, He’s hurrying by escaping in the next verse.
Edgar Allan Poe influences the French Symbolists:
The rosemary nods upon the grave
The lily lolls upon the wave
Wrapping the fog about its breast
The ruins molders into rest
(Poe: The Sleeper)
The story had to take place in Colorado or Wyoming, the only states that had diamond mines at the time except for Arkansas, and this is not an Arkansas song. Rosemary, Big Jim and the Jack of Hearts had no love lost between them because of Lily, who was Big Jim’s mistress, but the Jack of Hearts was her true love. She had come from a broken heart and traveled many places when she had lists of strange affairs, but only the outlaw Jack of Hearts had taken her heartbbefore leaving her. Now she had fancy dresses and plenty of baubles from her sugar daddy, Big Jim, whom she did not love but by whom she was loved. Big Jim wasn’t going to have the object of his affection have her own long lost object of love.
Big Jim had seen the picture of the Jack of Heats somewhere-a picture on Lily’s shelf. Rosemary came in late determined to get revenge on Big Jim who cheated on her with his mistress the showgirl Lily. This haze of memory from Big Jim’s seeing the real Jack of Hearts made him realize the the Jack was Lily’s true love. Rosemary contemplating her reflection in the knife is determined to put an end to the misery of the life she knows. And does not care about her fate—only that it not be chained to the powerful man who is her husband but does not love her The back stage manager sensed some of the many funny things that were going on—the drilling and the two murders being planned. The fact that the leading actor was hooded, in the costume of a monk, only adds to the sense of an impending death.
When he made his usual entrance, Both big Jim and Jack were staring at Lily who had just drawn the card of her outlaw & vanished lover, the Jack of Hearts who was back , to avenge both Lily and Big Jim for betraying a love the Jack had already abandoned & betrayed. Jack probably didn’t care whether he left town with Lily or Jim’s fortune; either one would be a proper revenge on Big Jim, and Jack did not participate in his gang’s robbery. He wanted to setbeyes on Lily. The frenetic pace of the music shows that a lost love quadrangle is playing out & not going to end well.. What better way for Jack of hearts to have his revenge on Big Jim than to break into the bank and clean out both Big Jim’s money and his diamonds, and if Lily decided to come along and meet the thieves later, Big Jim would be ruined financially,as well as by losing Lily’s love, which, recalling the photograph, he realized he had never had quite placed—on Lily’s shelf? On Rosemary’s? This enraged Big Jim-how dare Eitherlove another man? Lily, left long ago by The Jack whom she loved, felt bitter toward the lover who had just come back into her life, “Don’t Touch the Wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint; I’m glad to see you still alive, you looking like a Saint” by implication means Lily knew Jack was NOT. Big Jim came into Lily’s room and was prepared to kill the Jack; his Colt revolver was chambered (“clicked”) and ready to fire on Jack. Following her cheating husband into his mistress’s room, Rosemary really has a choice about how to end the despair of her loveless life in a role (another actor in the piece, really) she did not want to play any longer in a life she did not want to live any longer. In one last dramatic act, Rosemary could rob Jim of his fortune, his mistress, and his desire to murder a rival. The only true innocent in the set piece sacrifices her own life by taking Big Jim’s, and perhaps freeing Lily too, to be with her true love. By the next morning, the Jack of Hearts had escaped with his gang & Big Jim’s money and diamonds. Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair; whatever happened, she was never going to be a role for an audience, a man again. She could either leave town, leave the state, begin a new life freed, or she could meet up with the Jack of Hearts which does not seem likely, since he had failed her too. Rosemary was content on the gallows because life identiless and loveless life was not worth living, she had destroyed the man who had destroyed her and perhaps in a feeling of “So much the better” feeling as well, she had given Lily her freedom even as the gallows were freeing her from a life so hurt yet at least she could feel she done “one good deed” before she died. Lily, back to her natural self, was free to go live whatever life she chose. At some point in her life, perhaps Rosemary too had loved the Jack of Hearts. Lily’s hand, after all, contained two queens and the Jack of Hearts, who was likely the true love of both women. Rosemary’s last thoughts were of the Jack of Hearts: both women had lost a man they didn’t love and don’t the Bad Boys like the Jack of Hearts ( a nave, a ne’er do well) ALWAYS betray and make their getaway? Rosemary sentenced herself to death by preventing the Jack of Heart’s death. The redemptive resignation to Rosemary’s death by hanging was that she had taken revenge on the husband who did not love her, and “freed” herself and two others, who other un-innocent people who had hurt her deeply, betrayed her, and caused her to make an end of the life of which she despaired.—three cards, three love triangles “buried away” just like Lily’s dress and the life she would never live again.
One might say that it is Dylan (Jack Of Hearts
)who kills Big Jim because he wrote the song. Who created the Tiger? William Blake did.
In the acoustic version, it’s clearly ‘cold’ not ‘Colt’ …
I always took the “Jack of Hearts” to be Dylan, just like he was the “Jack and the Ace” (and “The Thief”) on Sad Eyed Lady. Furthermore the Jack is ever-present, or at least recurring in some relevant way throughout the song. Pretty sensible the narrator has some commonality with him.
Well Dylan is certainly a ‘person of interest’ in the Big Jim murder case in as much as “They say I(Dylan)shot a man named Gray /And took his wife to Italy” (Idiot Wind)…sounds like a real bad dude to me!
Petty crime can lead to a slippery slope, that’s for sure …..
‘If I was a master thief/ Perhaps I’d rob them”
(Positively 4th Steet)
Goodness me, we may have a serial killer on our hands!
Your Honour, if it please the Court, I would like to introduce this pun into the evidence ….’Big Jim lay covered up/ A penknife in the back’ …
They say the pen is mightier than the sword … Dylan uses his pen like a knife and stabs Big Jim in the back with it when he writes the song.
What say you all … guilty or not guilty?
Reading too much into the lyrics is a dubious idea ….assuming facts not stated; and imputing motives to the characters when there is very backup in the lyrics for doing so; thereby complicating a narrative that is already deliberately mixed-up by the writer in the first place. Best to bo seek out a simplistic story line that is consistent with statements actually made in the lyrics.
Obviously, the “manager” did it! (lol)
‘And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape on the stage once had flowed”
(Visions Of Johanna)
The cabaret is empty now….closed for repair.
*very little backup
The digging in the wall, coat of paint(morter)alludes to Ezekiel; the cold revolver clicks, to the Russian Roulette scene in the ‘Deer Hunter.’
It’s about the CIA framing Lee Harvey Oswald.
I can see no possible justification for any of the ‘political allegory’ interpretations of this classic ballad structure song of personal suffering and sacrifice. Folks who haven’t might be interested in reading The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Robert W Service, a wonderful poem which resembles LR&JoH.
The real genius of this song is that it can conjure up different images and interpetaions for everyone.Tells a story while leaving out enough details so everyone can get their own picture in their mind.Great song,grat album