Along with the Starchild, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons co-wrote some of KISS’ biggest hits—“Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Strutter,” “Shout It Out Loud”—and also penned a collection of songs for the band on his own. “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em,” “Larger Than Life,” “Domino,” “Calling Dr. Love,” “Only You,” and “Got Love for Sale” are some of the band’s songs written solely by Simmons.
When KISS was working on their 1974 eponymous debut, another song Simmons had written solo two years earlier resurfaced: “Deuce.”
Videos by American Songwriter
“Bitch” and “Go All the Way”
During the winter of 1972, Simmons wrote “Deuce” on a tour bus while he and Stanley were preparing to end their band Wicked Lester and form KISS. Pieces of the song started coming into Simmons’ head, first the riff, then the melody, and the entire song, which he wrote on bass.
“It was a very linear song,” said Simmons.”As soon as the riff came, the first verse came, then I wrote the bridge, and then I wrote the chorus. We arranged it right on the spot and knew that it would be a staple for years.”
While composing the song, Simmons admitted to copying the bassline from The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers track “Bitch” from 1971 and playing it backwards. “The guitars ended up shadowing the bass line or variations of it in different octaves,” Simmons told Guitar World in 1996.
Stanley said the song was also loosely based on the Raspberries’ 1972 hit “Go All the Way,’ written by Eric Carmen.
“The beginning of the song was me ripping off the Raspberries,” said Stanley. “The beginning of ‘Deuce,’ the thing that starts it off, is me, bastardizing ‘Go All The Way.’”
Lyrically, the song comes off as more misogynistic, instructing a woman to please her man.
Get up and get your grandma out of here
Pick up, old Jim is working hard this year
And, baby, do the things he says to do
Baby, if you’re feeling good
And, baby, if you’re feeling nice
You know your man is working hard
He’s worth a deuce
“Lyrically, I had no idea what I was talking about.”
Soon after its release, “Deuce” became a fan favorite and traditionally kicked off the band’s live sets.
“When we first went on tour with our first record, it was the opening song of the show, and we would come back for encores and not have any songs left and do ‘Deuce’ again,” recalled Simmons. “Then, if we got a second encore, we would do ‘Deuce’ again. Lyrically, I had no idea what I was talking about. Sometimes stuff means a lot, sometimes it means nothing.”
“Deuce” was also the first song former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley played when he auditioned to be in the band. “
“It’s my favorite KISS song,” said Frehley. “When I auditioned for KISS, they said, ‘We’re going to play you a song for you to listen to, and then try playing along. The song was ‘Deuce,’ and they played it as a three-piece, and the song was in the key of ‘A.’ I thought, ‘That’s easy enough,’ so I got up and wailed for four minutes playing lead work over it.”
On December 2, 2023, KISS played “Deuce” one last time during their final live performance at Madison Square Garden in their hometown of New York City.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation
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