“3’s & 7’s” by Queens of the Stone Age

“3’s & 7’s” is the title of a song recorded by noted American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. The song’s primary theme is “lies”. Josh Homme actually confirmed this a live performance of the song in Amsterdam.

Accordingly, this song starts with the narrator telling the unknown addressee to lie to his face because that’s all he wants to hear. The reason he prefers lies to the truth is because he can’t stand the pain associated with being told the bitter truth.

It is common knowledge that ignorance often yields bliss. Actually if you don’t know about a troubling fact or something that is unpleasant, you tend not to be bothered by it. This is exactly what the narrator hopes to achieve – the bliss associated with not being told the truth about a problem.

What is the meaning of “3’s & 7’s”?

Actually the song’s title (“3’s & 7’s”) can be found nowhere in the lyrics. But does that mean it has no connection to the lyrics and the song’s overall meaning? Actually there might be a strong connection – one that can help listeners deepen their understanding of the song.

The term “3’s and 7’s” is actually a common phrase used in the world of poker. And anyone who knows the game of poker knows that it centers a lot on lies. You can’t actually excel at it, if you are not a very good liar.

In this game, there are roughly two kinds of hands you can get – the good and the bad hand. The phrase in question (3’s and 7’s) is an example of a bad one.

Takeaway

All in all, having put the bits and pieces together, what we know are as follows:

• poker centers around lies
• 3’s and 7’s (the song’s title) has a connection to poker – the game of lies
• Josh Homme refers to this song as one about “lies”

So when you put all of the above together, we can arrive at two conclusions. The first is that this is a song that cleverly and creatively pays homage to the aforementioned card game. The second is that the writers are using a game associated with deception (poker) to touch on the general issue of falsity/pretense in the various spheres of our lives.

When was “3’s & 7’s” released?

On the 4th of June, 2007, Interscope Records released this song as a single. It was issued as the second single from the band’s fifth studio album, which goes by the title “Era Vulgaris”.

Performance on the Charts

This song was unable to chart in America’s most prestigious singles charts – the Billboard Hot 100. However, it was able to score Queens of the Stone Age a top-20 hit on the UK Singles Charts. In Scotland, it performed very well, reaching a peak position of #2.

Who wrote “3’s & 7’s”?

The aforementioned Homme wrote this song with his band mates. The full list of songwriting credits is as follows:

• Troy Van Leeuwen
• Homme
• Joey Castillo