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Ballad of the Ace of Spades

from Come On by michael thorne jarrett

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lyrics

Ballad of the Ace of Spades

My daddy named me Navy ‘bout a week before he died
Least that’s what mama told me on the nights that she cried
Herself to sleep in the bedroom there
While I’s getting beat playing Solitaire

I grew up trying to be what he was not
And not get shot in a barroom fight
And not get caught with a second Spade Ace
In a game with a man with a scar on his face

When I was a kid I built me a fort
Way up in a tree, a magnolia of course
My friends would come by and we’d play Old Maid
I’d beat ‘em or cheat ‘em with the tricks of the trade

One day I was up there, nobody but me
I’s learning to hide a card up my sleeve
When the wind blew through and the cards they scattered
One out the door to ground it fluttered

I jumped to catch it but I missed by an inch
So I jumped again and I hit every branch
As I fell from the top of that magnolia tree
I caught that card, but it didn’t catch me

I hit the ground hard with the card in my hand
It hurt a lot more than I guess I'd have planned
But I didn’t care much that I was all tore up
‘Cause it was a Spade Ace, and they’re full of good luck

About 20 years later, I turned 21
Went out on the town to scare up some fun
I stopped at Old Nick’s and got out of the truck
Put my lucky Spade Ace in my drawers for good luck

Old Nick’s was a-buzzing with gamblers and girls
And a couple of cowboys sitting on stools
In corner down past the end of the bar
Some fellow was singing playing a Mexican guitar

About 6 shots later and Spanish lullaby
She walked in with wet hair in her eyes
She pulled it all back and wrung out the rain
Walked up beside me, said her name was Lorraine

Well me and Lorraine, we hit it off big
Stepped on the floor to a fiddler’s jig
She’s something else, oh my, she could dance
And I’s glad that I had my Spade in my pants

About 2 weeks later we tied the knot
Honeymooned in my truck in the mall parking lot
You should’ve seen the look on her face
When she found where I kept my lucky Spade Ace

She laughed and said, “Oh my, that’s keen,
‘Cause that’s right where I keep my lucky red Queen”
Then she showed me…

King, he’s got the money; Queen, she’s got her smile
You might have seen their faces if you’ve walked that road a while
Hell is full of Aces, well you know it if you’ve been
Me, the Joker and the Jack, we got one hand in the wind

Lorraine and her Queen, they were a mighty fine pair
I’d come home and they’d both be there
Sharing a bottle and finding all my flaws
That’s not to mention the late night phone calls

Things didn’t work out with me and Mrs. Navy
It was like chicken fried steak without any gravy
We could only seem to agree on one thing
That she was the greatest, if you know what I mean

So she packed up and she left the place
And I went down to the bar with my lucky Spade Ace
And lost everything ‘cept the boots on my feet
Got shot by a man who said I’s a cheat

He got up and left me lying here
Gut-shot on the ground so I can’t reach my beer
Thinking about women and Jesus
And the valleys of darkness that our choices’ll lead us

And how not even ten minutes before
I’d bet my pistol on that dirty Club whore
But she didn’t turn up and I lost my place
With four Clubs and a Heart and my lucky Spade Ace

It was the Ace that got him all heated and mad
Although it could not have helped the hand that I had
He threw down his cards and picked up my gun
And he shot me with my bullets that he’d already won

If you’ve never been shot, I don’t recommend it
But I didn’t see it coming so I couldn’t defend it
But I’s glad I had my Ace or I might be dead
Shot in the heart or worse yet in the head

So give me an hour and my story’ll be through
And you can get back to whatever it is that you do
But there’s a moral here that maybe you’ll find
If your Spade Ace is a lot luckier than mine

credits

from Come On, released August 1, 2000

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