Ace of Spades (2:46)

“Ace of Spades” is a song by the heavy metal band Motörhead. According to the Ace of Spades Songfacts, Lemmy claims he wrote this song in the back of a transit van travelling at 90mph.

Initially released as a 7” vinyl single on October 27, 1980 as a preview to the album Ace of Spades and autumn tour, Bronze Records also released a 12” vinyl pressing in special ‘Christmas’ picture sleeves, limited to 50,000 copies. The picture of the band in Santa outfits used on the cover was taken while the band were on tour at the Aylesbury Fair. In November the song reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart.The song is considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem, and “put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed”.

Bronze also issued German and Spanish 7” vinyl versions which had a different sleeves, as well as a Japanese import, with a colour picture insert with song lyrics in English and Japanese. One sided test pressings (not mis-presses, used in the trade) escaped the pressing plant and are on the market.

For the lyrics, Lemmy said he “used gambling metaphors, mostly cards and dice - when it comes to that sort of thing, I’m more into the one-arm bandits actually, but you can’t really sing about spinning fruit, and the wheels coming down”.