Lyric discussion by johnrausch3rd 

Everyone has missed what seems obvious.

First of all, the Jack of Hearts does not get killed; Rosemary saves him by killing Big Jim, the husband she despises, with a pen knife. She chooses to do "one good deed before she died" and consigns herself to the gallows.

Secondly, Rosemary is Lily's...wait for it...mother! Why do you think Dylan wrote the lyrics of the final verse like so: "She was thinking about her father who she very rarely saw / Thinking about Rosemary, and thinking about the law..."

Rosemary "had done a lot of bad things," including having a child out of wedlock. What makes the story so sordid and even more Shakespearean is that Rosemary's unfaithful husband is having a dalliance with her daughter.

Nobody writes a song like Bob Dylan.

Precisely!

The one thing I can't figure out is why the Colt revolver merely "clicked." Did Lily empty the cylinder? Was it Rosemary? Could've been either one.

@johnrausch3rd Thank you I did not observe this.

@johnrausch3rd Thank you I did not observe this. The cold revolver clicking is Jim holding Jack of Hearts at gunpoint, then Rosemary saves Jack by stabbing Jim before he can shoot, I guess?

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