Richard Thompson is one of my favorite singers and the other day I picked up his album Mock Tudor, which features two of my favorite songs of all time–"Bathsheba Smiles" and "Uninhabited Man". After listening to the album about a dozen times the last few days I can add the song "Sibella" to my list of faves, and the words that open the song are, I think, of considerable interest:

Oh some girls hold the ace, the deuce, the trey
X-ray the deck to see what’s coming
Mary Antoinette she smiled that way
Easy to smile when the luck is running

It would seem that, at some point in his past, Richard Thompson was involved with a woman who liked to play Razz. Or, maybe, Seven-Card Hi/Lo. Still, I can say with confidence that this is the finest song I’ve ever heard that revolves around a man’s doomed relationship with a mixed-game specialist.

Permanent link to this post.