On my non-iPod

The first I heard of this CD was when Shamus mentioned it last week in a post detailing the poker references made in Rolling Stone magazine over the years. I zipped over to amazon.com and ordered myself a used copy right away. I've never come across anything that Ricky Jay has done or been in that I didn't like, so it was not a difficult decision. The disc arrived Friday, and I gave it a first listen today. Me likey.

There are 19 poker-related songs, plus one track that is a snippet of dialog between Jay and Joe Mantegna from the movie "House of Games"--coincidentally the same scene that I mentioned here.

The songs selected range in dates from 1914 to 2004, and come from jazz, blues, country, plus a few not readily categorized, such as Bob Dylan, or Lorne Greene narrating (rather than attempting to sing) a ballad, the plot of which might remind modern poker-playing listeners of the movie "Lucky You."

I think my favorite song on the first time through was, ironically, probably the least directly connected to poker: "Ace in the Hole," by Dave Van Ronk. Below are the lyrics, as found here:

This town is full of guys who think they’re mighty wise,
Just because they know a thing or two.
You can see them every day, strolling up and down Broadway,
Telling of the wonders they can do.
You’ll see wise guys and boosters,
Card sharps and crap shooters,
They congregate around the Metropole.
They wear those flashy ties and collars,
But where they get their dollars,
They’ve all got an ace down in the hole.

Some of them write to the old folks for coin,
That’s their ace in the hole.
Others have girls on that old tenderloin,
That’s their ace in the hole.

They’ll tell you of trips they are going to take,
From Frisco up to the North Pole.
But they’d end up on that line, in their clothes not a dime,
If they lost that old ace in the hole.

Wherever you might stray, along the Great White Way,
They’ll corner you and start in telling lies.
Of oil wells in Nebraska and gold mines in Alaska,
You’ll be immersed in bullshit to your eyes.
But every hustler knows
Bullshit buys no clothes
And only cold cash keeps you off the dole.
So some of them wash dishes,
And some of them are snitches,
But all of them have aces in the hole.

Drifters who dwell on that slippery slope,
Grifters who jump their parole,
Trying to sell bags of catnip for dope,
That’s their ace in the hole.

They’ll tell you of money they’ve made and they’ve spent
And flash a Missouri bankroll.*
But their names would be mud,
Like a chump dealing stud
If they lost that old ace in the hole.


*I had to look up this term. It's "a roll or wad of blank paper, cut to the same size as dollar bills, surrounded by a few real notes of high denomination." See here for the defintion and history.