Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 11:41 AM

The lyrics you have there for the Rise Again songbook are close the version Hedy West learned from her father, who learned the song as a child from Etta Mulkey of Gilmer County, North Carolina. Hedy called it "Gambling Man".

I am a roving gambler
I've gambled down in town
Wherever I see a deck of cards
I lay my money down
I've gambled down in Mexico
And I've gambled up in Maine
I'm going back to Georgia
And gamble my last game.

And gamble my last game
And gamble my last game
I'm going back to Georgia
And gamble my last game.

I went down in the country
I did not go to stay
I fell in love with a pretty little girl
And I could not get away
She took me in her parlor
And cooled me with her fan
And whispered in her momma's ear
"I love that gambling man".

"I love that gambling man".
"I love that gambling man".
And whispered low in her momma's ear
"I love that gambling man".


Oh, daughter, my dear daughter,
How could you ever stand
To leave your dear old mother here
And go with a gambling man
Oh, mother, my dear mother,
You know I love you well.
But the love I have for the gambling man
No human tongue can tell.

No human tongue can tell.
No human tongue can tell.
But the love I have for the gambling man
No human tongue can tell.



My father was a gambler
He taught me how to play
He taught me how to stand my hand
To ace, deuce, jack, and trey
I've gambled down in Mexico
And I've gambled up in Maine
I'm going back to Georgia
And gamble my last game.

And gamble my last game
And gamble my last game
I'm going back to Georgia
And gamble my last game.


wg

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: GUEST,foseanusa2
Date: 03 Feb 22 - 04:43 AM

Good https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=109089

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Link repaired. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 29 Dec 20 - 02:52 PM

"EARLIEST DATE: 1915"

It's in Emma Bell Miles' 1904 article in _Harper's_.

http://bluegrassmessengers.com/some-real-american-music--miles-1904.aspx

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 15 - 04:10 PM

Didn't Woody Guthrie record a version as a duet with Cisco Houston?

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: Tradsinger
Date: 27 Dec 15 - 06:34 AM

There are lots of UK-side versions. Check out: http://glostrad.com/rambling-irishman-the/.

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Dec 15 - 01:53 PM

Refresh!

I was wondering where "knock down my last game" came from.

Thanks!

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: Origins: Roving Gambler / Gambling Man
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 08:48 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Roving Gambler, The (The Gambling Man) [Laws H4]

DESCRIPTION: The singer freely admits his addiction to gambling, cards, and a roving life. But he also has an eye for the ladies. In one town he meets with a "pretty little girl" who takes him home and then decides to follow him wherever he goes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: gambling courting rambling floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,Ro,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Laws H4, "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man)"
Belden, pp. 374-377, "The Guerrilla Boy" (4 texts, 1 tune, but only the first 2 texts are this piece)
Randolph 835, "The Guerilla Man" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 323-325, "The Guerrilla Man" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 835A. Cohen notes that the printed melody fits only the first verse; there is probably an error in the transcription, causing a line to be omitted)
Owens-1ed, pp. 183-185, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-2ed, pp. 85-86, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 49, "The Journeyman" (3 text)
Bronner-Eskin2 43, "The Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 87, "The Blue-Coat Man" (1 text, a curious version in which the gambler, upon seeing enemies, "willingly shot them down"; 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 75, "The Roaming Gambler" (1 text)
Peters, pp. 261-262, "The Gambling Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 131, "The Gambling Man" (1 text, incorporating the "Pretty Little Foot")
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 98-99, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text; a number of his other texts also have verses probably from this song; see the references under "On Top of Old Smokey")
Rosenberg, p. 142, "The Rovin' Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 312-313, "The Roving Gambler" (3 texts, 1 tune. The "A" and "C" texts, clearly go here; the "B" text is possibly distinct though mostly floating verses)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 150-151, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 21, pp. 136-139, "The Buckskin Shirt" (1 text, 1 tune, a strange composite starting with "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man) [Laws H4]), breaks into a cowboy version of "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)," and concludes with a stanza describing the happy marriage between the two)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 889, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 592, "The Wandering Steamboatman" (1 partial text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 226-227, "The Roving Gambler" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Rambling, Gambling Man" (1 text, with more than a little influence from the "I'm a Rambler, I'm a Gambler" texts of "The Wagoner's Lad"); p. 60, "Roving Gambler Blues" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', p. 122, "The Rustlin' Gambler" (1 text, probably a mix of this with other gambler songs)
DT 645, ROVINGMB
Roud #498
RECORDINGS:
Frank Bode, "Roving Gambler" (on FBode1)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Roving Gambler" (Crown 3159, 1931; Paramount 3302, 1932; Varsity 5082, Montgomery Ward M-3025, Homestead 23041, Continental 3012 [as Pete Daley's Arkansas Fiddlers], n.d.)
Vernon Dalhart, "Rovin' Gambler" (Edison 51584, 1925) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5027 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], n.d.) (OKeh 40479 [as Tobe Little], 1925) (Columbia 15034 [as Al Craver], 1925) (Grey Gull/Radiex 4135 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1927)
Hobart Delp & band, "Roving Gambler" (on Persis1)
Kelly Harrell, "Rovin' Gambler" (Victor 19596, 1925; on KHarrell01) (Victor 20171, 1926; Montgomery Ward M-4367, 1933; on KHarrell01)
Claude Moye, "Roving Gambler" (Champion 16118 [as Asparagus Joe], Supertone 9712 [as Pie Plant Pete], 1930; Superior 2643 [as Jerry Wallace], 1931; Champion 45063, Melotone [Can.] 45063 [both as Pie Plant Pete; as "Rovin' Gambler"], 1935)
RECORDINGS: J. J. Neece, "Old Gambling Man" (on CloseHomeMS)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Roving Gambler" (on NLCR01)
George Reneau, "Rovin' Gambler" (Vocalion 15148, 1925; Vocalion 5077, 1926)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "The Roving Gambler" (Columbia 15447-D, 1929)
Welby Toomey, "Roving Gambler" (Gennett 6005, Champion 15209 [as Herb Jennings], Silvertone 5006, Challenge 229 [as Clarence Adams], 1927; Silvertone 8151, Supertone 9252, 1928; Herwin 75532, n.d.; rec. 1926)
Doug Wallin, "The Roving Gambler" (on Wallins1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man)" (plot)
cf. "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Been All Around This World)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Almost Done" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Gambler" (theme, floating lyrics)
cf. "Sailing Out on the Ocean" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Met a Handsome Lady" (lyrics)
cf. "The Soldier Boy (III) (The Texas Volunteer)" (lyrics)
cf. "I Am a Roving Peddler" (tune, some lyrics)
File: LH04

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Subject: ADD Version: Roving Gambler
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 08:45 PM

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…

---

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"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: folkwaller
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 12:38 PM

I have to agree Lonnies choruses were a bit frantic.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 11:25 AM

Bob the Postman beat me to it: I learned it as "Roving Gambler," aka
"Roamin' Gambler," which always brought visions of Lucius Libidinus Sterno to mind. I never could spell, though. The moral to the story is, "Always try variant titles." "Cuckoo," in some versions, has many similar verses.

"I've gambled in England, I've gambled in Spain;
I'll bet you five dollars, I'll beat you next game."

Donegan has also got some White House Blues/Wabash Blues stuff in there --whistle is a blowin', Lord, she's strainin' every nerve.

Glad I never had to sit thru all his choruses, though. :)

CC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 10:42 AM

Other versions of this song often go by the name Roving Gambler

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: GUEST,Van
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 06:42 AM

Strangely enough when I was in the pub yesterday they had this playing on the jukebox. Fairly took me back a few years!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: Goose Gander
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 05:00 AM

Try typing 'gambling man' into the search engine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: Rasener
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 04:53 AM

Here is Lonnie Donegan live singing Gambling Man
Gambling Man

Here is Lonnie Donegan's lyrics of Gambling Man

I've gambled down in Washington
And I've gambled up in Maine
I'm going down into Georgia
To knock down my last game
I'm a gamblin' man, man, man
I'm a gamblin' man

Well I'd not been in Washington
Many more weeks than three
When I fell in love with a pretty little girl
And she fell in love with me
I'm a gamblin' man
I'm a gamblin' man

I'm a gamblin' man, man, man
I'm a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
I'm a gamblin' man

I'm a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
I'm a gamblin' man, man, man
I'm a gamblin' man

She took me in her parlour
Cooled me with her fan
She said oh mother mother
I'm in love with a gamblin' man
He's a gamblin' man, man, man
He's a gamblin' man

She said oh daughter, daughter
How could you treat me so
Leave your poor old mother
With that gambler go
He's a gamblin' man, man, man
He's a gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
He's a gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
Hey a gamblin' man

I would not marry a farmer
He's always in the rain
I'd rather marry a gamblin' man
With a gold watch and chain
He's a gamblin' man
He's a gamblin' man

And I would not marry a railroad man
Here's the reason why
I've never known a railroad man
Wouldn't tell his wife a lie
He's a gamblin' man
He's a gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man man man
A gamblin' man, man,man
He's a gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man
How about Jimmy

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man
How about

I hear that train a-coming
Coming round the curve
Whistling, a-screaming
straining every nerve
A gamblin' man man man
A gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man

He's a gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man, man, man
A gamblin' man

Subject: Lyr Req: Gambling Man.' I've gambled down in----
From: folkwaller
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 04:20 AM

Can't find it in the search so asking for help. I think a verse goes 'I've gambled down in Washington, I've gambled down in Maine and if I had a pack of cards I'd gamble there again'. 'I'm a gambling man'. Thanks.