Dylan’s Songs About Gambling

 

Whether it’s through playing entertaining games at the spin casino online or being featured in movies, gambling has touched different facets of life. Several musicians have also composed songs to show their love and appreciation for the industry. Bob Dylan is among the hundreds of musicians, who’s known for his love for gambling, even composing multiple songs, including:

  1. Huck’s Tune – Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was the first musician to get a Nobel Prize thanks to his contributions to this American tune and the intuitive story that he invented it. Like most of his other songs, “Huck’s  Tune” is dynamic and lyrical, pulling right at the heartstrings.

Written for Lucky You and starring Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, the song covers various topics, mostly focusing on the dangers of poker. The song also talks about the difficulty of mixing relationships with money. From this song, it’s clear that Dylan’s musical mastery is unmatched, making “Huck’s Tune” a great song on gambling to add to your Spotify list.

2. Rambling, Gambling Willie – Bob Dylan

Released in 1992, “Rambling, Gambling Willie” is dedicated to the archetype of every gambler. Bob’s hero is among the greatest gamblers of all time and his song has a story to tell. The song speaks of Willie, a gambler who’s all over the place and lives for the game.

According to Dylan, the gambler is willing to take a shot at almost anything, even sailing down New Orleans to try his hand with the Jackson River Queen. He also swings by Cripple Creek, which is a popular gambling area, and keeps going.

3. Lily, Rosemary & Jack of Hearts

Using a third-person omniscient narration to tell his story, Dylan uses a basic storytelling plot structure for this song. The song starts by talking about conflict, followed by rising action and climax before the resolution. This classic song talks about Jack of Hearts as Lily’s true, although she was Big Jim’s mistress and no love was lost between them.

According to the story, Lily came from a broken home but finally traveled to lots of places while having lots of strange affairs. However, only the outlaw (Jack of Hearts) managed to conquer her heart. The song is yet another great combination of gambling and love, with Dylan using his lyrical mastery to combine the two.

4. House of the Rising Sun

A traditional folk song also known as Rising Sun Blues, this song talks about a person’s life going wrong in New Orleans. The song has been recorded in different versions since its release, with most versions urging children and parents to stay away from the same fate. However, the most successful version of this folk song was recorded by the Animals in 1964.

5. Little Willie The Gambler

First released by Bob Dylan in 1991, Little Willie The Gambler talks about the story of a great gambler that’s worth knowing. In this song, Dylan tells the story of his friend Willie, who liked to gamble anywhere there were people, whether it’s the white house, railroad yards, or while sailing to New Orleans. Fortunately, Willie had a good heart, supported his kids and all their mothers.

One comment

  1. I’d add the casino thread in ‘Black Diamond Bay’, some gambling-related verses in ‘Billy’… Then we have those two lines “And the cards are no good that you’re holding / Unless they’re from another world” in ‘Series of Dreams’… “Double-dealing” in ‘We Better Talk This Over’… Then “But there’s no one to check, it’s all a stacked deck / We all know for sure that it’s real” in ‘Political World’… The third verse of ‘Down the Highway’… “Low cards are what I’ve got / But I’ll play this hand whether I like it or not” in ‘Pay in Blood’… “You can’t win with a losing hand” in ‘Things Have Changed’… Seems like a subject for a possible book.

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