Pop Culture, Poker & Gambling

The late 1970s had a whole range of musical styles to offer, and gambling was a direct or indirect theme again and again. From the mid-70s until today, just as many great hits have been produced as in the 50 years before that.

In 1975, and unusual for the time, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band fell back into real blues tones with their nice title Gamblin ‘Bar Room Blues . It’s less about gambling, but the song title and the singing alone gave reasons for a place on our list. In the same year Tom T. Hall sang Deal in the classic country style and Chris de Burgh sang the game of poker with the devil with his Spanish train and the unforgettable lines of text: “Joker is the name, poker is the game. We’ll play right here on this bed. And then we’ll bet for the biggest stakes yet. The souls of the dead. ” Bob Dylan then went more lively with his folk rock song Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. “Backstage the girls were playin ‘five-card stud by the stairs. Lily had two queens, she was hopin ‘for a third to match her pair ”sang Dylan. As early as 1974, country icon Dolly Parton wrote and sang Kentucky Gambler , which Merle Haggard sang quite well and then released in 1975. The Little River Band landed a real evergreen with Lonesome Loser . The lonely loser who is beaten again and again by the Queen of Hearts goes the rousing chorus.

Wishbone Ash wrote another beautiful title in 1977 – in Diamond Jack they sang: “You have cast you dice, take your chances at they come, one by one.” Then in 1978 AC / DC rocked the stage with Sin City and Bob Seger took it easy in his ballad Still the Same about a successful gambler. Kenny Rogers also gave good advice in the same year with his unmistakable voice when he sang the title song of the movie of the same name The Gambler and sang: “You’ve got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em, know when to walk away , and know when to run “. Kenny Rogers landed an absolute top hit that is still wonderful to listen to today. Also the band, which was extraordinarily modern at the time Emerson, Lake & Palmer produced a title of the same name in their very own singing and electronic music style. “Mama, give me another ace!” And “Oh Lord, have mercy, give what wheel a spin” are just two examples of this great title. It was about a card fraudster when the band The Clash sang The Card Cheat the following year : “With a card up his sleeve, what would he achieve?” The dealer smells the roast and the band sings “The gambler is seized and forced to his knees and shot dead. “

1980 On The Nickel sung in a smoky voice by Tom Waits, who sings about “a place where a royal flush can never beat a pair”. For the band Motörhead, too, the gambling theme gave reason to write a song. There is the famous Speed ​​Metal version of the song Ace of Spades and one, maybe even better, in a Slow Acoustic version .

Kim Carnes also had a song about the card game in 1981 with Draw of the Cards in the 1980s musical style “Red black or white. Watch ’em fall. And it’s all in the draw of the cards “. Then, as already mentioned, Juice Newton climbed the charts worldwide with her country hit Queen of Hearts . In the following years, many artists dealt with the topic of gambling. Laura Branigan sang Solitaire in 1983, and in 1984 even Die Toten Hosen incorporated the theme with full roar into their rock song Liebesspieler . With Bon Jovi, somebody finally sang something about the elegant casino game roulette in the same year and the young Madonna also landed with Gambler a passable chart hit and sang “Cause I’m a gambler, I only play the game my way, yeah”. Stacey Q did the same with her Two of Hearts title . Love and the two of hearts, that’s not the point here, but still very audible.