Songs about card games

Cafe Society
1

Was listening to the Tull, and noticed a gambling reference, then realised I’d listened to a lot of songs this last week with card game references:

“Joker is the name, Poker is the Game” - Chris De Burgh, Spanish Train

“Slip the night from a shaved pack, make a marked card play” - Jethro Tull,* Dun Ringill*

“You’ve got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em” - Kenny Rogers, *The Gambler
*
“the only card I need is The Ace Of Spades, The Ace of Spades” Mötorhead, *The Ace of Spades
*
“He knows that the Spades are the Swords of a Soldier” - Sting, Shape of My Heart

Any to dd to the list?

2

Dealin’ card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain’t no one keepin’ score.

The City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie

3

Some of yours aren’t strictly about card games, so in that vein:

4

Dark Lady, Cher. Not really gambling, but the dark lady uses a regular deck of playing cards for her fortune telling.

5

“Black Queen” by Stephen Stills. He used to introduce it by saying, “This is a song about a card game,” so I know it fits here.

6

It’s not entirely about a card game, but the Tom Waits song “Tango Till They’re Sore” includes “Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs.”

7

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y’all

:smiley:

8

A fatal card game is at the center of “Stagger Lee” by Lloyd Price and many other artists. Another fatal card game figures prominently in a verse of “Mr. Saturday Night Special” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

“Do It Again” by Steely Dan. (“Your black cards can make you money, So you hide them when you’re able.”)

“Ooh Las Vegas” by Gram Parsons and covered by the Cowboy Junkies. (“Well, the queen of spades is a friend of mine. The queen of hearts is a bitch”)

9

“That Was A Crazy Game of Poker” - O.A.R.

10

Ooh, good one! First 45 single I ever bought!

“What the winner don’t know, the gambler understands” Heart, “Straight On”
And that Kenny Rogers song, don’t make me quote it.

11

The Eagles’s “Desperado”

Don’t you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy,
She’ll beat you if she’s able.
The Queen of Hearts is always your best bet

Dylan’s Lily, Rosemary & The Jack of Hearts

Backstage the girls were playing five card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens and she was looking for a third to match her pairs.
Outside the streets were filling up and a window was open wide.
A gentle breeze was blowing, you could feel it from inside.
Lily called another card and drew up the Jack of Hearts

12

“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,” Bob Dylan

13

Does this help?

I love the Internet

14

Townes van Zandt wrote Mr Mudd & Mr Gold.

And Bob Dylan wrote an epic called Lily, Rosemary & The Jack of Hearts. There **is ** a card game in the song…along with a lot of other stuff.

And he wrote Rambling, Gambling Willie. Which Townes used to sing…

Leonard Cohen’s The Stranger Song is another one that may be about poker. Darn those poets!

(And darn my long posts–allowing others to mention Dylan first!)

15

Lonesome Loser- Little River Band:

Have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?
Beaten by the Queen of Hearts every time.
Have you heard about the Lonesome Loser?
He’s a loser but he still keeps on trying.
*

Okay, so it’s not so much about playing an actual card game as much as it refers to the game as an analogy for dating and finding love (the story of my life, incidentally).

16

XTC’s “Happy Families” is about the U.K. children’s card game of the same name.

17

The Mick Jagger song (a mid-80s solo hit) Lucky In Love is rife with cards and card game references, ending with:

18

You don’t need to, it’s in the OP.

19

There are tons of poker references in Grateful Dead songs–“Loser,” “Dire Wolf,” “Me and My Uncle” (a cover, but one the Dead played frequently)–but my favorite is in “Doin’ That Rag”:

One-eyed jacks and the deuces are wild
And the aces are crawling up and down your sleeve…

Also “The Card Cheat” by the Clash.

20

That Song About The Midway, by Joni Mitchell

was it hard to fold a hand you knew could win…