Diamond Jack

Album: Front Page News (1977)
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Songfacts®:

  • Running 4:33, group composition "Diamond Jack" is the final track on the 1977 Front Page News album. Uptempo and unashamedly commercial, it combines a feelgood factor with philosophy through the metaphor of a card game - obviously high stakes poker.

    The final hand in The Cincinnati Kid (the film version, not the book) sees the young pretender - played by Steve McQueen - busted by the old master - played by Edward G. Robinson - by a gutshot jack of diamonds in an extremely improbable hand of five card stud. Could this be the inspiration for the song?

    The final lines are:

    Black magic or Lady Luck
    Who will show me the way?


    At least one fan has heard a similarity with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"; if you listen closely, you might too.
  • An obvious single, and just as obviously an A-side, it was released as the B Side of "Front Page News" in September 1977 on the MCA label, and like every Wishbone Ash single before and since, it bombed. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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