Seven Curses (NYC Town Hall, 4-12-63) Songtext
von Bob Dylan

Old Reilly stole a stallion
But they caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down in the jailhouse ground
With an iron chain around his neck

When Reilly′s daughter got a message
That her father was goin' to hang
She rode by night and came by morning
With gold and silver in her hand

When the judge saw Reilly′s daughter
His old eyes deepened in his head
Sayin', "Gold will never free your father
The price, my dear, is you instead"

"Oh, I'm as good as dead," cried Reilly
"It′s only you that he does crave
And my skin will surely crawl if he touches you at all
Get on your horse and ride away"


"Oh father, you will surely die
If I don′t take the chance to try
And pay the price and not take your advice
For that reason, I will have to stay"

The gallows shadow shook the evening
In the night, a hound dog bayed
In the night, the grounds was groanin'
In the night the price was paid

The next mornin′ she had awoken
To find that the judge had never spoken
She saw that hangin' branch a-bendin′
She saw her father's body broken

These be seven curses on a judge so cruel
That one doctor cannot save him
That two healers cannot heal him
And the three eyes cannot see him

That four ears cannot hear him
That five walls cannot hide him
That six diggers cannot bury him
And that seven deaths shall never kill him