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Poker/Gambling References in Grateful Dead Songs

11-22-2010 03:38:57 PM

Grateful Dead / Poker / Gambling

I have always enjoyed playing poker, and listening to the grateful dead and the bands it's members have played in since the passing of Jerry Garcia. So i wanted to write my first blog on this site about the songs and lyrics the grateful dead produced that have gambling and poker references.

Here is a cool photo of Bob Weir playing poker in Las Vegas in the late 1970s.


Grateful dead Lyrics:

Loser:
"Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine
I can tell the Queen of Diamonds by the way she shine
Come to Daddy on an inside straight
I got no chance of losing this time
No, I got no chance of losing this time"

Scarlet Begonias
"when the dealing got rough
She was too pat to open and
too cool to bluff"


Mississippi Half step:
"They say that Cain caught Abel
rolling loaded dice,
ace of spades behind his ear
and him not thinking twice"

Truckin
"Truckin' - got my chips cashed in
Keep Truckin - like the doodah man"



Deal
"Since it cost a lot to win
and even more to lose
You and me bound to spend some time
wondering what to choose

Goes to show you don't ever know
Watch each card you play
and play it slow
Wait until your deal come round
Don't you let that deal go down

I been gambling here abouts
for ten good solid years
If I told you all that went down
it would burn off both your ears

It goes to show you don't ever know
Watch each card you play
and play it slow
Wait until your deal come round
Don't you let that deal go down

Since you poured the wine for me
and tightend up my shoes
I hate to leave you sittin there
composin lonesome blues

It goes to show you don't ever know
Watch each card you play
and play it slow
Wait until your deal come round
Don't you let that deal go down
Don't you let that deal go down, no
Don't you let your deal go down"

lucky dice Dice references are plentiful in Grateful Dead lyrics, being part of the overall gambling motif.

• "Roll those laughin' bones"--"Candyman"
• "They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice"--Halfstep Mississippi Uptown Toodeloo"
• "Ratcat alley roll them bones"--"Throwing Stones"
• "Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice"--"Throwing Stones"