Seven Curses

By Bob Dylan

D C D - / D C D - / G - D - / G A D -
O Riley stole a stallion
But they caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down in the jailhouse grounds
With an iron chain around his neck

When Riley's daughter got a message
Saying that her pa was going to hang
She rode by night and came by morning
With gold and silver in her hand

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

"Oh, I'm as good as dead!" cried Riley
"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"

O the shadow of the gallows shook the evening
And in the night a hound dog bayed
And in the night the ground was groaning
And in the night the price was paid

But in the morning, when she had awoken
She found that the judge had never spoken
She saw that hanging branch a-bending
She saw her father's body broken

These be seven curses on a judge so cruel:
That one, doctors cannot save him
That two, healers cannot heal him
And that three, eyes cannot see him

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