Here is the version we put in the Rise Again Songbook. There is another version in the Digital Tradition;

ROVING GAMBLER

I am a roving gambler, I gamble all around
Wherever I meet with a deck of cards, I lay my money down
I lay my money down
I lay my money down

I had not been in Frisco many more weeks than 3
I met up with a pretty little gal, she fell in love with me
She fell in love with me

She took me to her parlor, she cooled me with her fan
She whispered low in her mother's ear,
"I love that gambling man…"

"Oh daughter, dear daughter, how can you treat me so?
To leave your dear old mother & with a gambler go?
And with a gambler go.

"O mother, O dear mother, you cannot understand
If you ever see me coming back, I'll be with a gambling man…"

I left her there in Frisco & I wound up in Maine
I met up with a gambling man, got in a poker game…

We put our money in the pot & dealt the cards around
I saw him deal from the bottom of the deck & I shot that gambler down…

Well now I'm in the jailhouse, got a number for my name
The Warden said as he locked the door, you've gambled your last game…

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But then I came across several other great verses on a Ramblin Jack Elliott recording, so I thought I'd post them here since they didn't get included in the book:


"Oh mother, Oh dear mother, you know I love you well
But the love I have for this gambling man, no human tongue can tell"

"I would not marry a farmer, he's always in the dirt
The man I want is a gambling man who wears a silken shirt"

"I would not marry a RR man, I'll tell you the reason why
I never knew a RR man wouldn't tell his wife a lie"

"I would not marry a cowboy, he's always in the rain
The man I want is a gambling man who wears a golden chain"

"I hear that train a-coming, it's a-coming 'round the curve
A-whistling & a-blowing & a-straining every nerve"

"Oh mother, Oh dear mother, I'll tell you if I can
If you ever see me back again, it'll be with that gambling man"