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.
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.