Gambling can be recorded back in history to the 9th century in China where games of dice were used to create some entertainment. It is however only in 1638 that the first official Casino, The Ridotto, was established in Venice, Italy. With gambling dating back that far, it is no surprise that musical artists throughout the world have been singing about it for about just as long.
Vegas and Country Music
Of course, when we think of gambling, probably the first place that comes to mind would be Las Vegas, which is the largest city in the Mojave Desert in The United States of America. It is also true that when we think of Las Vegas, more commonly known simply as Vegas, that in our heads we automatically start humming that great tune from the King of Rock n Roll himself. Elvis Presley sang the great song ‘Viva Las Vegas’ and made everyone in the world feel as if we had been to Vegas. Right as the song starts, he sets the stage by singing about the bright lights that sets his soul on fire. A theme that carries on throughout the song as he later mentions the neon lights and the armbandits crashing.
But Rock n Roll has most certainly not been the only genre of music to mention gambling. Country music singer Kenny Rogers also sang about gambling in his song aptly named ‘The Gambler’. The song speaks of a man that is an old hand at gambling. He knows what hand you are holding by reading your face and the gambler knows that the man he is talking to is out of aces. He mentions that you must know when to hold your cards and when you should fold.
Pop, Rock and Metal
It is not only artists of yesteryear that sang about gambling. More recently, Lady Gaga topped the charts with her number one single ‘Poker Face’. She sings about the parallels between love and the most famous gambling game, poker. In this catchy tune that has everyone singing how you ‘can’t read my, can’t read my, no he can’t read my poker face’, she kicks the song of mentioning Texas Hold’em, which is probably the post popular variant of the game https://casinositescanada.net/poker/. She also mentions how the risk of gambling is fun when you are a pair and in love.
From rock to country, then to pop and even in metal. AC/DC sang about ‘The Jack’. Even though the song has been altered over the years, the original lyrics of the song sings about a promiscuous woman and makes tons poker references. They sing about the cards that she is dealing and how her deuce was wild, but his ace was high, and she had never had a full house before.
Gambling has been sung by so many artists including Ray Charles, Leonard Cohan, The Animals, The Hollies Iron Maiden and hundreds more. Surely, we have also not reached the end of songs about gambling.
Who knows what chart stopping hits will be released in the future? One thing is for sure, for as long as gambling entertains us, we will be singing about it.
