Queen Of Spades
by Styx

Album: Pieces Of Eight (1978)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In playing card metaphors, we often hear about the queen of hearts, but rarely about the queen of spades, who in this song is bad news. She's a temptress, so sweet in her warm embrace, but she can turn cold quickly and bring you down.

    According to Styx keyboard player Dennis DeYoung, the song is about gambling addiction. Phrases in the lyrics like "your die is cast" and "turn of a card" indicate casino games like craps and blackjack.
  • Dennis DeYoung sang lead on this one and wrote it with James Young, a guitarist and founding member of the group, making it a Young/DeYoung composition.

    Structurally, it's based on an earlier Styx song called "Suite Madame Blue." Young explained in a Songfacts interview: "'Queen Of Spades' is really lifting the concept or structure of 'Suite Madame Blue,' where we start out slow and then build to the big chorus. We play it in the key of B minor."
  • "Queen Of Spades" is part of the Pieces Of Eight album, which includes "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade." By this time the band was building a huge fan base while confounding many critics who often labeled them pretentious.

Comments: 1

  • Mike from MaintJust came upon your webpage, so far I like it. I would like to know the song fact about “ Crystal Ball “ by Styx.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.