People have always found artistic ways to express what is most important to them the world. But there is one way to do it people particularly enjoy : music!
Gambling has found its way into the lyrics of many popular songs we have loved and listened to for years. Trying to think of a title? No worries - you know more gambling songs than you might expect at first. In fact, we believe that you are already listening to most of these tracks at home.
You must already be curious to know which songs we have in mind! Find below our list with top 10 casino songs of all time, as you enjoy your gaming experince at one of the best online casinos in Canada.
‘The Gambler’ is probably the first title that comes to mind to many of you when asked about popular songs about gambling.
It’s written in 1976 and recorded by many artists including Johnny Cash, but made a mainstream success by Kenny Rogers in 1978. The song became a country hit topping the country charts and reached the top even on pop charts which was very rare for country songs.
The lyrics follow a meeting between the narrator and a gambler on a train, late at night. The gambler takes the last swallow of whisky and in exchange offers the narrator life advice presented as a conversation about poker.
It’s a classic country song about life, the risks we take and our points of view on life shared on late-night train rides.
‘The Gambler’ was a big hit and won many awards. The song has been featured on numerous occasions and in many TV shows. Even until this day, it is Rogers’ signature song.
‘Poker Face’ is one of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits. The song had worldwide success and received critical acclaim winning Lady Gaga fans all over the globe and turning her into a pop star. In fact it’s one of the best selling singles of all time becoming a N.1 hit in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and a number of European countries. The iconic music video shows Gaga playing strip poker in a villa in various outfits.
The meaning of the term ‘Poker face’ was a mystery at first and fans were curious to know what truly lies behind it. Lady Gaga finally explained that it was about gambling and relationships, mainly hiding her true emotions and letting her partner wonder what is really going on in her mind because he can’t read her ‘poker face’. Not bad for a song about gambling!
Recorded for his 1964 film of the same name, ‘Viva Las Vegas’ is a song performed by the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley.
A truly iconic song, ‘Viva Las Vegas’ has become one of Elvis’ most known and recognizable tracks. It has been used in many movies and TV series when mentioning Las Vegas or in comedic situations linked to gambling, or even simply during joyful and funny moments. It has appeared for example in the ‘Viva Ned Flanders’ episode of ‘The Simpsons’ featuring Homer and Ned visiting Las Vegas.
In 1992 American rock band ZZ Top recorded a cover version of the song for their ‘Greatest Hits’ album.
An interesting fact is that this song was actually never performed live by Elvis though it’s one of his most known songs. However, it is often performed by many other artists.
‘The winner takes it all’ by Swedish pop group ABBA is a heartbreaking song about the end of a relationship. It’s written by members of the band Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus in 1979. It was then released in 1980 and is still one of the most beloved ballads. It was even voted ‘Britain’s Favorite Break-up song’ in 2010. Did yoou know that the original title of the song was ‘Story of my life’?
Agnetha Fältskog is singing the lead vocals giving a very emotional performance. In fact, the song was written during her divorce with Ulvaeus. Although they have denied the song is about their relationship, there are still rumours that the lyrics are about them.
The theme is quite different than the ones of other songs about casinos. Still, the lyrics bring up the parallels between gambling and relationships where there are both winners and losers.
‘Shape of my Heart’ by Sting is a radio classic loved by generation after generation. We are sure you’ve heard it many times. But have you ever listened closely to the lyrics?
Released as the fifth single of British singer Sting’s album ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales’ in 1993, ‘Shape of my heart’ has become an all-time favorite hit over the years.
The lyrics tell the story of a gambler who is playing not to win, not really, but rather to find logic or some kind of law in luck, in its mystical functioning, if there is any logic in it at all.
It’s safe to say that ‘Shape of my Heart’ is a song that is really different from other songs about casinos.
It’s known for its enchanting lyrics but also for its beautiful guitar riff that has been used by Juice WRLD and BLEU. In fact, the song has been sampled by Craig David, Sugababes and Nas in their own songs.
‘Shape of my Heart’ was featured in the end credits of the English-language French thriller ‘Léon: The Professional’ by Luc Besson.
When thinking about gambling songs, ‘Ace of Spades’ is certainly the first song that comes to mind to heavy metal fans! And others, for that matter, as this song was quite the hit!
Heavy metal band Motörhead released their single ‘Ace of Spades’ in October 1980.
Lemmy has explained that for the lyrics he has used gambling metaphors about playing cards and dice though his personal taste was more about slot machines. However, as he has stated he couldn’t really sing about spinning fruits and the wheels coming down.
The song was a commercial success upon its release and reentered and topped the charts in January 2016 after the death of Lemmy in December 2015.
‘Ace of Spades’ is also included in many rankings for the best rock songs and best guitar tracks and was even ranked on 442 place on the ‘Top 500 Songs of all time’.
As part of the album ‘T.N.T.’ by Australian hard rock band ‘AC/DC’, ‘The Jack’ is a direct reference to poker. The album performed well on the charts and contains some of the band’s most famous tracks even now. including one of the most popular poker songs ever.
Released in 1975, the song’s lyrics contain several gambling metaphors making the text extremely popular and recognizable.
However, it’s one of those gambling songs with a hidden meaning. As one of the popular poker songs, it’s through poker terms that the narrator draws a picture of the tension between him and a woman, finally claiming that ‘She’s got the Jack’.
With an unusual tempo and groove, ‘Tumbling Dice’ by English rock band The Rolling Stones, is remarkable for its blues and boogie-woogie rythme. The song casino was released worldwide in 1972 and was widely praised by critics for its musicianship, as well as for its lyrics. Indeed, you can probably already tell by the title, the lyrics bring up the story of a gambler. He turnes out to be a player who can’t remain faithful to women, and thus the song explores the intriguing theme of gambling and relationships.
‘Tumbling Dice’ by The Rolling Stones was commercially successful reaching the top 10 in many European countries, as well as in the US and Canada.
One of those casino songs that have stood the test of time!
When you hear that there is a song casino by The Eagles, you just know it has to be iconic!
Don Henley began writing what later became ‘Desperado’ in the late 60s but it was in 1972 that it was finished. Actually, after the recording of their first album, Don Henley and Glenn Frey made the decision to write songs together and ‘Desperado’ turned into the ballad we now know. The song was even voted the second most favorite Eagles’ song.
At first ‘Desperado’ seems to be about a young cowboy and his refusal to fall in love. However, knowing that the difficult sides of being a rockstar are a common theme in Eagles’ songs, we find a parallel between the lives of a cowboy and a rockstar. So the true meaning of the song may actually be the artist’s suffering and loneliness because of his art.
The image of the queen of hearts and the idea of betting are present in the cowboy’s journey, turning the song into a power ballad with truly enchanting lyrics.
There can’t be a top 10 of songs about casinos without this story about illegal gambling.
‘When You’re Hot, You’re Hot’ is a song by Jerry Reed, released in 1971 and describing an illegal game of craps in the back alley. The song is about three friends playing who are later caught by the police and about their trial in court.
The captivating lyrics tell the whole story to the audience who hear the refrain ‘When you’re hot, you’re hot/When you’re not, you’re not’ at the most important episodes.
At the beginning the singer is very lucky and wins several rounds. The three friends are then discovered by the police and arrested. In the third verse they are in court for their trial waiting for their punishment. Finally, the singer, still believing in his luck, tries to bribe the judge who turns out to be his old fishing buddy. However, the judge gives him a sentence that’s even heavier then the ones he gives the other two.
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Which Is the most popular song about casino?
There are a lot of popular songs about gambling and casino games in lots of different genres of music. ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers and ‘Shape of my heart’ by Sting are definitely some of the most well known songs. Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker face’ was also a huge mainstream success. Check out our list above for the top 10 most popular casino songs.
Which is the most popular poker song?
Poker is one of the most popular casino games, played by players all over the world. So there are many poker songs inspired by the game where singers either sing about the game or use poker metaphors to express their emotions or ideas. Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker face’ and AC/DC’s ‘The Jack’ are some of the first out of many titles that come to mind when searching for the most popular poker song.
