Transcribed from the sound file found here: Click to play.

GAMBLE'S GUITAR
Michael Smith

Down in St. Augustine, F-L-A,
I was walking along the beach one day,
Sun beating down like a steel-drum play,
So bright that you couldn't see far.
I was listening to the waves rolling in,
Humming a tune from I-don't-know-when,
Thinking of days that won't come again,
When I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

I had a book and a joint and some chunks of bread
For the sea birds wheeling above my head:
Elmore Leonard and Panama Red,
And the music from a distant bar.
I was thinking about a real good friend,
Feeling kinda sorry for myself just then,
And a whole lot older than I'd ever been,
When I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

CHORUS: Whole lot of country, whole lot of blues,
Whole lot of sunshine, sand in my shoes,
Sound of a player who paid his dues,
And put some miles on that Mustang car;
Shot of Merle, jigger of Chet,
Little bit of Will McLane I bet,
Only the wind in the palms and yet,
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

Sang of the swamps and the snakes and the vines
And sang of the cypress and the phosphate mines
And nights up late in the whispering pines
Watching for a shooting star.
Stony roads, fishing pole,
Afternoons at the swimming hole,
Mouth-bow played by a Seminole,
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

In the old boys' picking by the front porch stove
While digging for treasure in a pirate's cove,
In a coffeehouse down in Coconut Grove,
Doesn't matter where you are.
Behind Spanish walls in Winter Park,
In the smell of jasmine in the dark,
Running the speed trap outside Stark,
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

CHORUS

Where the sea breeze blows but there's still the heat,
With a sunburned nose and sand-spurs in my feet,
At my college sweetheart's in old St. Pete
And her husband saying, "Hey, have a cigar."
Riding south past Manatee,
Heading down to the Florida Keys,
Getting things straight between Jesus and me,
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar.

I want to sleep beside the sea tonight,
Hear the crash of waves, see the Topsall (?) light.
I want to be grateful for what's gone right.
I want to wish upon a star.
God bless old friends from way before,
Bless old banjos, old country stores,
Bless old Florida forevermore,
And God bless Gamble's guitar.

CHORUS

God bless Gamble's guitar.

[As performed by Michael Smith on "Time," Flying Fish Records FF613.]