The Gambler (song)

"The Gambler"
Single by Kenny Rogers
from the album The Gambler
B-side "Momma's Waiting"
Released November 15, 1978
Format Vinyl
Genre Country
Length 3:34
Label United Artists
Songwriter(s) Don Schlitz
Producer(s) Larry Butler
Kenny Rogers singles chronology
"Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight"
(1978)		 "The Gambler"
(1978)		 "All I Ever Need Is You"
(1979)

"Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight"
(1978)		 "The Gambler"
(1978)		 "All I Ever Need Is You"
(1979)

"The Gambler" is a song written by Don Schlitz, recorded by several artists, most famously by American country music singer Kenny Rogers.

Don Schlitz wrote this song in August, 1976 when he was 23 years old. It took two years of shopping the song around Nashville before Bobby Bare recorded it on his album "Bare" at the urging of Shel Silverstein. Bare's version didn't catch on and was never released as a single, so Schlitz recorded it himself, but this version failed to chart higher than #65. However, other musicians took notice and recorded the song in 1978, including Johnny Cash, who put it on his album Gone Girl. However, it was Kenny Rogers who finally broke the song loose, in a version produced by Larry Butler. His version was a #1 Country hit and even made its way to the Pop charts at a time when Country songs rarely crossed over. It was released in November 1978 as the title track from his album The Gambler which won him the Grammy award for best male country vocal performance in 1980.[1] In 2006 Don Schlitz appeared in the Kenny Rogers career retrospective documentary "The Journey", where he praised both Rogers' and Butler's contributions to the song stating "they added several ideas that were not mine, including the new guitar intro".

It was one of five consecutive songs by Rogers to hit #1 on the Billboard country music charts.[2] On the pop chart, the song made it #16 and #3 on the Easy Listening chart.[3] It's become one of Rogers's most enduring hits and a signature song. As of November 13, 2013, the digital sales of the single stood at 798,000 copies.[4] In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."[5]

Content

The song itself tells the story of a late-night meeting on a train "bound for nowhere" between the narrator and a man known only as the gambler. The gambler tells the narrator that he can tell he is down on his luck ("out of aces") by the look in his eyes and offers him advice in exchange for his last swallow of whisky. After the gambler takes the drink (and a cigarette), he gives the following advice:

The gambler then mentions that the "secret to survivin' is knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep" and that "the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep". At this point, the gambler puts out the cigarette and goes to sleep.

At the end of the song we are told that "somewhere in the darkness, the gambler, he broke even", and that the narrator finds "an ace that I could keep", in his final words. Rogers' rendition in an appearance on The Muppet Show indicates the gambler actually dies in his sleep when he "broke even", thus really making those his "final words" ever spoken.

Chart performance

Cover versions

  • In 1979, when Rogers guest-starred in a season 4 episode of The Muppet Show, he performed this song with a Muppet character. Rogers is shown seated on a train with three muppets, one of them The Gambler (portrayed by Jerry Nelson). Rogers sings the opening verse, while Nelson sings most of "The Gambler's" dialog, then falls asleep just as Rogers concludes the song's story. After he dies, The Gambler's spirit rises from his Muppet body, singing backup and dances to the song's last two choruses, and lets a deck of cards fly from his hand before fading away.
  • The USFL team Houston Gamblers was named after this song. Kenny Rogers was born and raised in Houston, Texas.
  • A caricature parody of Kenny Rogers singing the song appeared in the 1993 Pinky and the Brain short "Bubba Bo Bob Brain" (season 1, episode 34). The lyrics to this version were changed to refer to Go Fish: "You gotta know how to cut 'em, know how to shuffle, know how to deal the cards before you play fish with me."
  • The song was used in the movie George of the Jungle 2 while playing a card game.
  • The song became a dressing room anthem for the England players in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which led to it becoming a pop UK top 40 hit.
  • On July 21, 2009, the song was released for the music game Rock Band as a playable track as part of the "Rock Band Country Track Pack" compilation disc. It was then made available via digital download on Dec 29, 2009.
  • A 2014 Geico television commercial features Rogers singing part of the song a cappella during a card game, to the displeasure of the other players.
  • The song was ranked number 18 out of the top 76 songs of the 1970s by Internet radio station WDDF Radio in their 2016 countdown.[17]
  • The song plays during a montage scene in an episode of Supernatural titled "Weekend at Bobby's" and in another episode titled "Inside Man".

References

  1. ↑ Reader's digest almanac and yearbook, 1981, p. 274
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 298.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 207.
  4. ↑ Matt Bjorke (November 13, 2013). "Country Chart News - The Top 30 Digital Singles - November 13, 2013: CMA Awards Drive Sales; Eric Church "The Outsiders" #1; Taylor Swift "Red" #3". Roughstock. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014.
  5. ↑ "National Recording Registry Reaches 500". Library of Congress. March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Australian Chart Book". Austchartbook.com.au. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  7. ↑ "Charts.nz – Kenny Rogers – The Gambler". Top 40 Singles.
  8. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  9. ↑ "KENNY ROGERS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ↑ "Kenny Rogers Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  11. ↑ "Kenny Rogers Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  12. ↑ "Kenny Rogers Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  13. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 3/10/79". Tropicalglen.com. 1979-03-10. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  14. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  15. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1979/Top 100 Songs of 1979". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  16. ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1979". Tropicalglen.com. 1979-12-29. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  17. ↑ "Best of the 70's & 80's". WDDF Radio. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
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