Perhaps it’s down to the fabled rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Maybe it’s all those long hours on the tour bus on the road. Or maybe there is just no better metaphor for life. Whatever the reason, judi online has been inspiring our guitar heroes for generations, from AC/DC to Aerosmith and Motörhead to The Grateful Dead.
When it comes to hand rankings, Motörhead’s fast paced “Ace of Spades” trumps Gregg Allman’s angst-ridden “Queen of Hearts” and AC/DC’s stripped back track “The Jack,” but I expect you might beg to differ when it comes to ranking their guitar skills.
Whatever your opinion of its guitar work, “Ace of Spades” is perhaps the definitive poker rock song, with its references to ‘the dead man’s hand,’ ‘pushing up the ante’ and ‘the only card I need.’ That being said, while not exactly a rock song, Kenny Rogers’ classic card playing parable comes in at a pretty close second, explaining how ‘you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold em,’ while always leaving you feeling that the song has nothing whatsoever to do with cards.
The same could be said about AC/DC’s “The Jack.” While laden with innuendo-rich poker metaphors throughout, the ‘jack’ in question has very little to do with completing a royal flush. The Grateful Dead’s “Deal” is also both a life lesson and poker game in one, packed with sage advice on everything from relationships to slowing down and taking it easy.
One thing about poker is that the card you so desperately desire for one particular hand will inevitably change with the very next deal. This perhaps explains why Gregg Allman was so infatuated with his “Queen of Hearts” – his second wife Janice – only to go on to swap his hand four more times, ending up with no less than six marriages in total.
Thankfully, not all rock relationships end that way. Garth Brooks used poker metaphors to describe his optimism for his new love in the track “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House.” Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler also sees himself and his chosen lady as “two of a kind,” helped considerably by the fact that for the woman of his dreams, “Deuces are Wild.” It’s hardly what you would call professional poker, but wild cards certainly improve your chances of making a pair.
Of course, some apparent card references in songs have nothing to do with poker at all. For example, the only thing that Steve Miller Band’s “Joker” plays is ‘music in the sun.’ At the other end of the scale, the tantric former Police frontman, Sting, goes to town analyzing the deeper meanings of each card and suit in “Shape of My Heart,” describing the deal as a ‘meditation’ and the aim of the game not being to win money or even respect, but ‘to find an answer.’
If all that sounds just a tad pretentious, don’t worry, there are plenty of more straightforward poker songs that don’t require you to light sacred candles and sit cross-legged on a yoga mat to understand them.
From The Clash’s card classic to Ray Charles “Losing Hand,” and from Elvis’s “Viva Las Vegas” to The Eagles “Desperado,” as long as the pack has held hearts and diamonds, and queens and kings, songwriters have been drawing parallels between the game of poker and the game of life.
