Seven Curses Lyrics

Joan Baez Seven Curses

Old Reilly stole a stallion
They caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down on the jail house 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

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

"Well, 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
So get on your horse and ride away"

"Oh father you will surely die
If I do not take a chance to try
And pay the price and not take your advice
For this reason I'll have to stay"

Well, the gallows shadows shook the evening
And in the night a hound dog bayed
In the night the grounds was groanin'
And in the night, the price was paid

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

Seven curses on a judge so cruel
One doctor cannot cure him
Two healers cannot heal him
And three eyes cannot see him

Four ears cannot hear him
Five walls cannot hide him
Six beggars cannot steal him
And seven deaths will never free him