Season 209 - The Deck of Cards

[YorkSteve]

Season 209 – The Deck of Cards



A pretty simple theme this week - I want songs about Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces, Jokers, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades, or (yes, the easy option) Hearts. A few examples – King of the Road, Hit The Road Jack, and Heroes (mentions King and Queen)

Songs which contain any of these words in the title or lyrics are OK, although if anyone enters three songs about broken hearts, I may banish them to the island of lazy song researchers.

Other cards (two, three, four etc) can only be used if they definitely relate to a card – so a song about the Three of Diamonds is OK, but “Three Steps to Heaven” is not.

Band/Artist names do not count – so no songs by King, Queen, Jack White, Ace, Neil Diamond, you get the idea. However, thinking about it, “Killer Queen” by Queen WOULD be OK, as it’s about a Queen as well as being by one. I’ll stop now before I think of any more complications.

Additional rules for tarot cards! Songs about dealing, playing, or reading tarot cards are fine. But for the individual cards, the number cards rules apply, so you can't do a song just because it mentions the Moon, or Death.

You can also enter songs which are about people playing cards, dealing cards, losing at poker, beating their children at snap, etc.
And of course, original songs can also be entered, as long as they follow the same card rules above.

1) Maximum of 3 new videos each please, to give me a chance to listen & comment on them.
2) All the usual rules about playing a ukulele apply, and multitracking is OK.
3) Season starts at 00:01 Hawaii time Sunday 14th, ends 23:59 Hawaii time Sunday 21st

There will be prizes. And that’s all I am saying.

PLAYLIST

 

[pabrizzer]

Creative and interesting theme Steve.
Plenty of scope to get some beaut songs I reckon.

OK. Already found a 12 bar blues song that will suit just fine!

 

[barefootgypsy]

Oh yes, lovely theme, that's quite inspired and inspiring! I'll have to get thinking....

 

[hendulele]

I like this theme, Steve! I've been part of a semi-regular poker game with the same five guys for 35 years. (We had a brief, 20-year intermission while I lived and worked all over the U.S., but every time I came "home," we got a game together!)

Jacks to open, trips to win?

 

[uke4ia]

I hope you don't mind me posting this old video, Steve. This is not an entry for Season 209. I did this back in TCK's drinking songs week in Season 87, as a tribute to all the Seasonistas. The song is traditional. I know it from a Fairport Convention album.

 

[turtledrum]

Challenging, fun theme, Steve! Thank you!

 

[Harry122]

Brilliant theme! Now I gotta put on my thinking cap...

 

[IamNoMan]

So you want to Play Cards Steve?I can think of oodles of games about cards.
I Read Tarot and Play Faro. High Priestess Wild
I reckon I can Deal you Three Cards if we are playing Baccarat or Black Jack. I prefer MY Martini's stirred not shaken.
I had to write a 500 word essay on Cards in sixth grade. It seems the teacher didn't approve of us playing cards during recess.
That Euchred that idea! But let us Cut to the chase.

How incidental can the use of cards be to the song? The Red Queen in White Rabbit for example.
Is the passing reference to playing cards acceptable?
How about a song about a gambler that doesn't even mention Cards and refers to gambling but once.
I ask these questions not for lack of ideas but I would like to sing some songs I know before I learn a new game.

 

[UkeCan1]

What a fun theme!

 

[bird's eye view of my ukelele]

great theme! as randy says, thinking caps ON!

 

[strumtheory]

Very, very nice theme.

 

[Jazzbanjorex]

Clever theme. I love it.

 

[TheOnlyUkeThatMatters]

You got to know when to hold 'em.

 

[Joko]

OOooo... Interesting theme! One possible way to make it even more challenging: shuffle the deck, pick a random card, and whatever it is, you gotta do a song on THAT card.

Can we use a tarot deck?

 

[uke4ia]

I was assuming we'd be able to. I know at least two tarot songs. One of which I could probably play.

 

[Debby]

You got to know when to hold 'em.

That was the first song I thought of!

 

[UkeCan1]

How incidental can the use of cards be to the song? The Red Queen in White Rabbit for example.
Is the passing reference to playing cards acceptable?

I'm pretty sure he said any mention of kings or queens or such was acceptable.

(Even though "White Rabbit" is about chess.)

 

[IamNoMan]

I'm pretty sure he said any mention of kings or queens or such was acceptable.

(Even though "White Rabbit" is about chess.)

That's sort of what I mean Wendy. I think though if you check "Through the Looking Glass" is about chess, (and the Queen should be black there). "Alice in Wonderland is about cards, and White Rabbit's. Perhaps a better example for my question would be the "City of New Orleans" which only has one line about playing cards with the old men in the club car.

 

[YorkSteve]

Any casual mention of king, queen, jack, ace, joker, club, spade, diamond & heart is OK. Any song which mentions the act of playing cards is OK. Songs about playing or reading tarot cards will be allowed, but for the individual cards, the number card rule applies, so songs which just happen to mention the moon or death do not count .

 

[UkeCan1]

That's sort of what I mean Wendy. I think though if you check "Through the Looking Glass" is about chess, (and the Queen should be black there). "Alice in Wonderland is about cards, and White Rabbit's. Perhaps a better example for my question would be the "City of New Orleans" which only has one line about playing cards with the old men in the club car.

You're right that a lot of the imagery in "White Rabbit" (most of the drug imagery) is from "Alice". However, the Red Queen and White Knight (and the men on the chessboard telling you where to go) are from "Looking Glass". Alice plays a game of chess with them, in which she advances as a pawn to the eighth row, and becomes a queen herself.

The queen in "Alice" is the Queen of Hearts, who is indeed a card. The Red Queen is a chess queen. They are both rather stern and boss Alice around, and therefore easy to confuse. (Yeah, a chess queen these days is usually black, but maybe not in Dodgson's day.)

I read "The Annotated Alice", every word, both books, when I was like nine. You can't mess with me about Alice.

"Off with her/his head!" was actually from the Queen of Hearts, so even the song confuses the two. (Which maybe makes the Red Queen in the song part card after all. Ish.)

In any case, my reading of the theme is both "White Rabbit" and "City of New Orleans" are acceptable songs, even though the queen in WR is a chess queen. Only numbers have to refer to actual cards. Any mention of a queen (king, jack, ace, joker) or card(s), even if only a tiny one, qualifies - is my understanding. [EDIT: Oh ... and there, the host has beaten me to the same message.]