The Gambler

Dad played this Kenny Rogers ditty a lot when it hit big. It was 1979 so I was only 5 when it came out, and too young to discriminate genres. It wasn't a COUNTRY song, just a COOL song. Ahhh to be indiscriminate about music again... Then one day Kenny performed the song with a couple of muppets on the Muppet show and I was completely sold. Check it out:

I think what attracted me to this song initially (besides the Muppets duet!) was #1 the melody and #2 the fact that he's telling us a story. I'm a sucker for story songs and really miss them in modern music. They're apparently making a comeback though with bands like The Killers and Kings of Leon, so yay! Also, this song has a key change in it which works so well but to me was so unpredictable. Gets me every time. All in all this song is very simple, very catchy, and very memorable. All ingredients of a smash hit.

According to Wikipedia, 'The Gambler' is often characterized as a metaphor for life in that you need to know when to stand your ground (when to hold 'em) and when to retreat (when to fold 'em). The gambler has learned that the trick to life isn't the cards you've been dealt, but how to play them (every hand being a "winner" or a "loser" depending on how they are played). The "ace" that Rogers refers to in the end is this advice. I guess I'll buy that, but really I think it's just about one dude giving another dude advice on how to win at poker...

Kenny Rogers is apparently still touring and had great success with his 2006 album Water & Bridges, but I would love to hear a Rubin/Cash 'American Recordings' style acoustic record from him. Stripped down and raw, you know? I think he could pull it off.

I was on vacation in the Okanagan, BC when I did this cover. I wrote a few country-tinged songs up there and 'The Gambler' was a bit of a warm-up before I recorded them. I didn't care much about quality because they were meant to be temporary until I got home and recorded them properly, so I played and sang right into the pinhole mic on my laptop. Also, there was a roaring air conditioner in the house we were renting that couldn't be shut off for fear of us melting. The result was that the songs sounded like they were recorded in the 40s Robert Johnson old-timey style, which in my opinion brought a lot of charm to them. Kind of like we're all sitting next to the campfire and somebody brought a tape recorder. I thought about redoing it for this blog, and maybe I eventually will, but for now you get the air-con recording.

My Cover of Kenny Rogers' The Gambler:



download > The Gambler

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.
~Kenny Rogers, 'The Gambler'