Top Dark Card

 Song 690: This week the playlist recognizes Ace of Spades by Motörhead, written by Eddie Clarke, Lemmy Kilmister and Phil Taylor, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As I began my third year living in Oakland, CA, in October of 1980, a notable new rocker hit the airwaves and got my housemate Doug and I to ride along with it. In the enjoyable moderate weather of the East Bay, we often spent time on the small front porch of our place while listening to the radio. The card that the singer focuses on here had earned a reputation as the key dead man's hand element in the late 19th century, and still gripped that status 104 years after a certain Wild Bill fellow reportedly grasped such a card at the moment when a bullet ended his life. Interestingly enough, I have a piece called Uptown Down that will appear on my next album CD Rock Ave. (which I hope to finish in about a month) that has a line where I ask the question How do you bet on snake eyes? While there are probably other songs that use that term, this one here is the first other one I've found that does mention it. In this case, snake eyes watching you might tell you that gambling's for fools, but when you play the game, you win some AND you lose some - that's how it goes.