Luck

It's night time in the big city
Foghorns bellow in the gloom along the wharf
Milk in the coffee only turns it gray. “As Albert Einstein once said: I will never believe that God plays dice with the universe. Well, I'm not usually one to disagree with someone as smart as Albert Einstein, but today going to look at the idea of playing dice with the universe, as we examine the world of luck. Good luck and bad luck. Luck of the draw. Dumb luck. The luck of the lady and the luck of the Irish. Lucky ducky and pressin' your luck. We're talking about being lucky in love and tough luck. We're gonna be talking about hard luck and down on your luck. And as luck would have it we're gonna be talkin' about shit outta luck.”

The Singers and Songs

  • Paul Evans
    Happy Go Lucky Me
  • B. B. King
    Bad Luck Soul
    “Lemon called it ‘Bad Luck Blues.' A few years later in 1961 B.B. recorded this.”
  • Eddie Dugosh and The Ah-Ha Playboys
    Bad Luck Come My Way
    “Sometimes you just play a record because you like the name of the band. I love the name of this band, but I also love the record...They later switched to a more rock and roll sound.”
  • Buddy and Ella Johnson
    Alright, Okay, You Win
    “We play Buddy Johnson a lot of Theme Time Radio Hour, and for good reason – he's a forgotten guy who made a whole lot of great records. What we haven't done is played his sister, who was the singer with the band. So here's brother and sister…”
  • Lazy Lester
    The Same Thing Could Happen To You
    “Talking about various things that could bring bad mojo upon ya.”
  • Annie Ross and Zoot Sims
    I'm Just A Lucky So And So
  • Roosevelt Sykes
    You Can't Be Lucky All The Time
  • Eddie Noack
    Take It Away, Lucky
    “He wanted to be a journalist. We got enough journalists, but not enough people who can sing and write like Eddie Noack”
  • Guitar Slim
    Bad Luck Blues
    “Here's another guy named Eddie, Eddie Jones. But he recorded under the name Guitar Slim. He's one of them wild blues guitar players. He wore brightly colored suits and he would dye his hair blue or green or orange to match the suit. He traveled with a 350 foot guitar chord, so he could wander way out of a club while he was playing…I think he plays pretty good.”
  • Kay Starr
    Wheel Of Fortune
    “She had so many pop hits, that people forget that she got her start as a solid jazz singer. No matter what you call it, it's just great singing.”
  • The Stanley Brothers
    If I Lose
  • The Orbits
    Mr. Hard Luck
  • Little Johnny Taylor
    You Win, I Lose
  • Wynn Stewart
    Three Cheers For The Loser
    “The Bakersfield sound is well represented by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, but there's one other guy who sometimes gets ignored…and we want to shine the Theme Time spotlight on him right now” (applause)
  • Frank Sinatra
    Here's To The Losers

The Other People and Players

The Other Songs and Albums

The Guests

The Movies and TV Shows

The Places

Record Labels

Commercials and Public Service Announcements

  • Lucky Charms Commercial