The Australian music scene is filled with songs about gambling and women and here we give you some of the best music pieces made on these two subjects.
No matter how much some people detest it, Australia will always have a rich gambling history of which gamblers can be proud off. With so many people interested in gambling, many resources have come up too such as PokiesList.org, and other websites dedicated to this niche.
Along with this phenomenon many classic songs about gambling have been composed and sung by some of the most popular singers and bands in Australia. Songs about women too, those perfect creatures that have broken the hearts of many gamblers. So, in the memory of that, here are some of the best Australian songs about gambling and women.
The Jack, by AC/DC
A bit of Australia’s most successful and most iconic rock band to get things rolling. AC/DC, formed by the Young brothers, made a hit song in 1975 with the legendary Bon Scott on vocals, a song that tells a story of a letter that a woman wrote to Malcolm Young. In the letter she suggested that Malcolm had given her a venereal disease, or more precisely ‘the clap’ i.e. Gonorrhea.
Of course, Bon Scott toned down the story by using metaphorical lyrics about gambling, and instead of ‘The Clap’, the song was called ‘The Jack’. The song was released on the TNT album of the same year, one of the best AC/DC records, and became a huge hit.
Whole Lotta Rosie, AC/DC
You can’t make up a list like this and not include AC/DC at least twice. Whole Lotta Rosie is the perfect song about women, or just one woman in this case, but one that was twice the woman than any other according to Bon Scott’s lyrics.
He tells a story about a Tasmanian woman Rosie that he met in Tasmania after a gig, a woman that weighed nineteen stone, which he describes to have been one of the best one-night stands that he ever had. Bon Scott met her after the show when he went to look for some good night clubs, and while walking the street he met Rosie who stood there with a friend of hers and called him: “Hey! Bon!” She and her friend plied him with drinks and bragged how she slept with 28 celebrities that month alone. In the morning Bon was the 29th.
Playing To Win, by Little River Band
This song will remain in Australian music history as one of the most iconic women-wooing, gambling and sporting songs. In 1985 Channel Seven made this song the anthem of the VFL season then. It’s a classic Farnham song, written when he was the lead singer of Little River Band.
Blow Up the Pokies, by The Whitlams
Gambling is not all about the glamour and luck. Oftentimes gambling can ruin many people’s lives, which is what this heartfelt and emotional song is about. It depicts the dangers of gambling through lyrics inspired by the demise of the band’s bass player Andy Lewis, who ruined his life with excessive gambling and ultimately committed suicide in 2000 in Canada while the band was on a tour there. Blow up the Pokies peaked at number 21 on the ARIA charts after being released in 1999 as the second song on the Love This City album.
Women in Uniform, Skyhooks
The Aussie phenomenon Skyhooks was very popular in the 70’s, although the band had constant line-up changes. They were virtually everywhere in the 70’s and rarely their songs were off the charts. Their lyrical content like the one in this song and their risqué image made them local Aussie heroes. Sadly Women in Uniform was their last major hit with the lead vocalist. It’s a song that glorifies women in uniform, like some kind of a fetish for police women or other authoritarian women figures. The song was later covered by the legendary heavy-metal band Iron Maiden.
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