"House of Cards"

"The Shower of Cards"
John Tenniel - 1865

I hear tell some playboy has kidnapped your heart

With his plane and his plans for games after dark
Just a pain in his pocket, and the price of a room
Where the second hand sheets smell of stale perfume

If there's sharks in the water, don't swim where it's deep
For the taste of success can be bitter and sweet
It could be you're right that I act like a child
But you'll be the loser when the jokers run wild

You're just playing the game, but the stakes are too high
What will you do when the chips start to fly ?
When the deck's stacked against you, and the living gets hard
Oh it's four walls of madness in this House of Cards

'Common' you call me, but I know there's time
In a handful of diamonds, a heart's hard to find
And your House of Cards starts weighing you down
All your nights become restless when the clubs start to pound

Released 23 June 1975

I received a phone call recently from an old friend asking me if I thought "House of Cards" might be about Elton's former fiance.

After he had finished laying out his evidence, I gave the subject a brief thought and answered him by saying "Yes, I have to agree."

Given the fact that the song was recorded during the sessions for "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", and the song is coupled with "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", it appears to follow a certain logic.

It makes sense lyrically and fits into the theme of the album.

It's exclusion from the LP was likely due to two possible reasons; it does nothing to move the story forward, and it was the obvious choice to omit because of time constraints.

Never wanting to waste a good song, it found it's home as a B side.

This practice was in keeping with Elton's philosophy of giving his fans value for their money.