Lyrics by Franz Nicolay & Maria Sonevytsky
Her name Adelita, it meant “courage” to him
She came with a purpose, left on a whim
Sang a song about the ways in which man is wolf to man
Takes what he wants, eats when he can
Runs from the daylight and sleeps in the sand
Sings songs for cigarettes and spits up in the garbage can
“When I sleep in strange beds my tattoo swells like a bad reaction
My body rebels and demands satisfaction.”
He didn’t sleep for three days, ridges and itches
His Chalino record skipped when she fell in the kitchen
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Your love lies in the highlands
Playing knave off knave
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Go beyond the highlands
Out beyond the glades
Anyone can be a God-fearing man on a mountain
It’s easy to be a good boy at the circus
She passed her right hand idly through the fountain
He called her worthless
She managed a bar for a while in Manila
He spent some time in the service
It’s easy to be kind when your heart has some purchase
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Your love lies in the highlands
Playing knave off knave
Come you jack of diamonds
Cast your bets, reel in your dreams
Queen of hearts played knave off knave
Nothing’s as it seems
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Go beyond the highlands
Out beyond the glades
Poor Felix & Adelita
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her
He was a star that fell on Alabama
She was a seafarer
He was a station of the Paris Metro
She was a Mexican soldier
The town in Almeria, five popes and sixteen saints
The German plan to take Gibraltar, his entreaties and her feints
His insistence
And her absence at the altar
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Your love lies in the highlands
Playing knave off knave
Come you jack of diamonds
Cast your bets, reel in your dreams
Queen of hearts played knave off knave
Nothing’s as it seems
Go on you jack of diamonds
Go on you queen of spades
Go beyond the highlands
Out beyond the glades
