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Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold Lyrics
Well the wicked king of clubs awoke
And it was to his queen turned
His lips were laughing as they spoke
His eyes like bullets burned
The sun's upon a gambling day
His queen smiled low and blissfully
Let's make some wretched fool to pay
Plain it was she did agree
He send his deuce down into diamond
His four to hart, and his trey to spade
Three kings with their legions come
Preparations soon where made
They voted club the day's commander
Gave him an army face and number
All but the outlaw jack of diamonds
And the aces in the sky
Well, he gave his sevens first instructions
Spirit me a game of stud
Stakes unscarred by limitation
Between a man named Gold and man named Mudd
Club filled Gold with greedy vapors
Till his long, green eyes did glow
And Mudd was left with the sighs and trembles
Watching his hard earned money go
Flushes fell on Gold like water
Tens they paired and paired again
But the aces only flew through heaven
And the diamond jack called no man friend
Now, the Diamond Queen saw Mudd's ordeal
Began to think of her long lost son
Fell to her knees with a mother's mercy
And prayed to the angels every one
Now, the Diamond Queen, she prayed and prayed
And the Diamond Angel filled Mudd's hole
The wicked King of Clubs himself
Fell in face down in front of Gold
Now, three kings come to Club's command
But the angels from the sky did ride
Three kings up on the streets of Gold
Three fireballs on the muddy side
The club queen heard her husband's call
But Lord, that Queen of Diamond's joy
When the outlaw in the heavenly hall
Turned out to be a wandering boy
Now, Mud he checked and Gold bet all
And Mud he raised and Gold did call
And the smile just melted on his face
When Mudd turned over that diamond ace
Now, here's what this story's told
If you feel like Mudd you'll end up Gold
If you feel like lost, you'll end up found
So amigo, lay them raises down
And it was to his queen turned
His lips were laughing as they spoke
His eyes like bullets burned
His queen smiled low and blissfully
Let's make some wretched fool to pay
Plain it was she did agree
His four to hart, and his trey to spade
Three kings with their legions come
Preparations soon where made
Gave him an army face and number
All but the outlaw jack of diamonds
And the aces in the sky
Spirit me a game of stud
Stakes unscarred by limitation
Between a man named Gold and man named Mudd
Till his long, green eyes did glow
And Mudd was left with the sighs and trembles
Watching his hard earned money go
Tens they paired and paired again
But the aces only flew through heaven
And the diamond jack called no man friend
Began to think of her long lost son
Fell to her knees with a mother's mercy
And prayed to the angels every one
And the Diamond Angel filled Mudd's hole
The wicked King of Clubs himself
Fell in face down in front of Gold
But the angels from the sky did ride
Three kings up on the streets of Gold
Three fireballs on the muddy side
But Lord, that Queen of Diamond's joy
When the outlaw in the heavenly hall
Turned out to be a wandering boy
And Mud he raised and Gold did call
And the smile just melted on his face
When Mudd turned over that diamond ace
If you feel like Mudd you'll end up Gold
If you feel like lost, you'll end up found
So amigo, lay them raises down
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This song makes me hanker for a game of high-stakes poker. It's basically a poem set to guitar; Townes doesn't even really sing the words. But it's brilliant.
As for the final hand of the game:
Mudd has: the QUEEN of DIAMONDS ("Diamond Queen saw Mudd's ordeal"), the ACE of DIAMONDS ("The diamond angel filled Mudd's hole"), at least one other DIAMOND ("three fire balls on the Muddy side"), and the JACK of DIAMONDS (because "the diamond jack called no man friend" for most of the game, but in the end, "Lord, that Queen of Diamond's joy When the outlaw in the heavenly hall turned out to be her wanderin' boy." The ace is in the hole, so Gold doesn't know he has it.
Gold has: 3 Kings including the King of clubs ("Three kings up on the streets of gold") The Queen of Clubs ("The club Queen heard her husband's call").
These clues, and the fact that Mudd has the better hand, is all we have to go on.
So at best, Mudd has a Royal Flush, and Gold has a full house, kings over queens. And at worst, Mudd has either a flush or a straight, and Gold has three of a kind.
Gold and Mudd are playing five-card stud Poker. Within this game, the cards are somewhat personified so that the Clubs and the Diamonds are at war with each other. Gold wins most of the hands with Club flushes and such, but Mudd's luck turns around when he goes all in for the last deal. Gold gets four kings, but the Ace of Clubs betrays him (remember that Gold had been winning with Club flushes and the King of Clubs' help, somehow) by falling into Mudd's hand and giving him all four aces, allowing Mudd to win everything back (apparently with some help from the Queen of Diamonds).
I've never been much for Poker, so I might be getting some of the particulars of their hands wrong, but it basically makes sense from the lyrics.
I guess you can take it deeper with the last lines if you want, but I just like to leave it as an incredibly well-told story of two men playing Poker.
The song is about a game of five card stud. In five card stud, each player is dealt one card face down, and then four cards face up. The early part of the song describes how Gold won many hands ("Flushes fell on Gold like water.."), but no one has been dealt the jack of diamonds. The song personifies Mudd's feeling of losing when the diamond queen prays to her "long lost son" (the diamond jack). In the next hand, Mudd is first dealt an ace of diamonds (angel = ace) and Gold is dealt the king of clubs face down. Gold is then dealt three kings face up ("on the streets" means three of the four cards visible to the other player, though the fourth card has not been dealt yet), giving him four kings, and Mudd is dealt three aces (fireballs = aces). "The outlaw in the heavenly hall" refers to the last card for Mudd, the jack of diamonds, he's an outlaw, being a jack, in the heavenly hall because every other card in Mudd's hand is an ace, or angel.
Thus, the last hand is, Gold = 4 kings + queen of clubs, Mudd = 4 aces + jack of diamonds.
The important thing is that some cards are up, some are down, we hope for the best, expect the worst...that is life. The details are rhyme and meter.