E A Brian Hennessey sat back and let the gypsy read his palm B E When he saw her eyes grow wide and wild and dark A And she whispered through her toothless gums and clutched him by the arm B E She said, ''Boy, I fear I see the devil's mark.'' E B E Brian Hennessey just laughed and pealed the ten-spot from his roll B 'Cause he'd never ever known the taste of fear E A But he wondered why the summer nights should suddenly turn cold B E As the gypsy's words come ringing in his ear. E A E ''You can run, you can hide, Brian Hennessey.'', she cried B ''But you can't escape the fate that's in your hand. E A And say how does it feel to have dealt your final deal? B E Go on lay down Brian you're a dying man.'' E A Brian Hennessey walked through the doors of the Dining Dog Saloon B E Where he stopped to have his nightly glass of gin A And the one-eyed scar-faced stranger a dealing blackjack in the gloom B E Winked his ghastly grey glass eye and dealt him in. E B E Brian watched in fascination as the stranger's fingers flew B Why he'd never seen such cheatin' done before E A And his hand closed round a handle of his snub-nose 32 B E When the gypsy's warning come to him once more. E A E ''You can run, you can hide, Brian Hennessey.'', she cried B ''But you can't escape the fate that's in your hand. E A And say how does it feel to have dealt your final deal? B E Go on lay down Brian you're a dying man.'' E A Brian Hennessey just folded up his cards and walked away B E Holding back the rage that burned his soul A And he stopped to have some coffee at the Mockingbird Cafe B E But that slender blue eyed waitress was his goal. B E And a few words from his silver tongue soon turned her flighty head B She said, ''My husband's out of town, you need not fear.'' E A But as he pressed her to the softness of her flutty-feathered bed B E On her pillows he saw written bright and clear. E A E Oh, you can run, you can hide, daring letters clear and wide B Said you can't escape the fate that's in your hand E A And say how does it feel to have dealt your final deal B E Go on lay down Brian you're a dying man. E A Brian Hennessey he stumbled down the stairs into the street B E And from that day on he changed his wicked life A And he never drunk or gambled and he never dealt no doop B E And he never touched another fellow's wife. B E And years later he met the gypsy when his days were almost done B He said, ''Ha, ha, I beat your curse don't you know.'' E A But when she saw the frightened, trembling, withered wretch that he'd become B E She said, ''Brian, you died twenty years ago.'' A E ''Because you ran and you hid that's exactly what you did B But you didn't escape the fate that's in your hand. A And say how did it feel to have dealt your final deal? B E Go on lay down Brian you're a dying man...