Ballin' the Jack

"Ballin' the Jack" (sometimes misspelled "Balling the Jack") is a popular song from 1913, written by Jim Burris with music by Chris Smith. It introduced a popular dance of the same name with "Folks in Georgia's 'bout to go insane." It became a ragtime, pop, and trad jazz standard, and has been recorded hundreds of times by many prominent artists. Around the same time the song came out, the expression "ballin' the jack" was used by railroad workers to mean "going at full speed." It i not clear whether the dance or railroad reference came first. The phrase has also been used to describe operating a jackhammer.

Film usage

The song and dance were performed in For Me and My Gal, the 1942 movie starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. It was also performed by Danny Kaye in the 1951 movie On the Riviera, and Dean Martin in the 1951 movie That's My Boy. It also featured as the After Dinner song sung in the mock-horror 1986 movie Haunted Honeymoon performed by Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise. Jimmy Jewel playing Cannonball Lee performed the song in the 1990 film The Krays.

The Jack

"The Jack" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the third track of their Australian album T.N.T, released in December 1975, and was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott. It is also the third track on the international version of High Voltage, released in May 1976.

Live recordings

"The Jack" has been included on all of the band's official live albums: If You Want Blood You've Got It (sung by Bon Scott, 1978), Live and its 2 CD Collector's Edition (sung by Scott's replacement Brian Johnson, 1992), Live from the Atlantic Studios (Scott, 1977), and Let There Be Rock: The Movie (Scott, 1979), with the last two being released in 1997 as part of the Bonfire box set. ("Whole Lotta Rosie" is the only other AC/DC song to appear on all five.)

The live recordings of "The Jack" have very different lyrics than the original LP versions. Whereas the LP version of the song uses poker metaphors as sexual innuendo, the live version tells the story in a literal manner.

Personnel

T.N.T. (album)

T.N.T. is the second studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released only in Australia, on 1 December 1975.

Recording

After the success of the single "Baby, Please Don't Go" and the album High Voltage, AC/DC returned to Albert Studios in Sydney to record their second LP with producers George Young and Harry Vanda. George is the older brother of guitarists Malcolm Young and Angus Young and had enjoyed his own success in the group the Easybeats. T.N.T. marked a change in direction from AC/DC's debut album, High Voltage, which was released on 17 February 1975; whereas High Voltage featured some experimentation with the styles of its songs and had a variety of personnel filling multiple roles, T.N.T. saw the band fully embrace the formula for which they would become famous: hard-edged, rhythm and blues-based rock and roll. They also simplified their personnel system and would use it from then on out, which was Angus strictly playing lead guitar, Malcolm Young playing rhythm guitar, and the drummer and bassist being the only ones to play drums and bass guitar respectively on the albums. In Murray Engleheart's book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, producer Harry Vanda states, "I suppose there might have been one or two tracks on the first album, a few things that they were experimenting with, which probably later on they wouldn't have done anymore. So I suppose you could say that T.N.T was the one that really pulled the identity; like, this is AC/DC, there's no doubt about it, that's who it's going to be and that's how it's going to stay."