Jack of Diamonds (song)

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Jack of Diamonds (a.k.a. Jack o' Diamonds and Jack of Diamonds (Is a Hard Card to Play)) is a traditional folk song.

[edit] Versions

Among others, it has been performed by

• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (on the album B-Sides & Rarities, released March 22, 2005.)
• P.W. Long (on the album We Didn't See You On Sunday, released 1997.)
• Blind Lemon Jefferson (1926)
• John Lee Hooker (on the album Jack o' Diamonds: 1949 Recordings, released 2004)
• Odetta (on Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, 1956)
• Lonnie Donegan released it as a single (Rock Island Line: The Singles Anthology 1955-1967, released 1985 [1])
• Mance Lipscomb (the Texas Songster)
• Ruth Brown released a version as a single in 1959.
• Fairport Convention recorded a version on their debut album written by Bob Dylan and Ben Carruthers, and featured lyrics [2] based on the original.
• The Daily Flash, an obscure Seattle-based folk-rock group from the Sixties, released their version on an SP in June 1966 (available on a compilation box Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968, Rhino Records 1998).
• Tarbox Ramblers uses it to open their first album.
• John Jacob Niles