Kenny Rogers, The Gambler (1978)
Key: :[E] (w: Don Schlitz)
VERSE 1:
On a
[E] warm summers eve, on a
[A] train bound for
[E] nowhere
I
[A] met up with a
[E] gambler; we were both too tired to
[B] sleep
So
[E] we took turns a starin', out the
[A] window at the
[E] darkness
Till
[A] boredom over-
[E]-took us,
[B] and he began to
[E] speak
VERSE 2:
He said,
[E] Son, I've made a life out of
[A] readin' people's
[E] faces
And
[A] knowin' what their
[E] cards were, by the way they held their
[B] eyes
So if you
[E] don't mind my sayin', I can
[A] see you're out of
[E] aces
For a
[A] taste of your
[E] whiskey, I'll
[B] give you some ad-
[E]-vice
VERSE 3:
So I
[E] handed him my bottle, and he
[A] drank down my last
[E] swallow
[A] Then he bummed a
[E] cigarette, and asked me for a
[B] light
And the
[E] night got deathly quiet, and his
[A] face lost all ex-
[E]-pression
Said, If you're
[A] gonna play the
[E] game boy, you gotta
[B] learn to play it
[E] right
CHORUS:
You got to
[E] know when to hold 'em;
[A] know when to
[E] fold 'em
[A] Know when to
[E] walk away; know when to
[B] run
You never
[E] count your money, when you're
[A] sittin' at the
[E] table
There'll be
[A] time enough for
[E] countin',
[B] when the dealings
[E] done
SONG KEY CHANGE: [+1] [F]
VERSE 4:
Now
[F] Every gambler knows, that the
[Bb] secret to sur-
[F]-viving
Is
[Bb] knowin' what to
[F] throw away, and knowin' what to
[C] keep
Cause
[F] every hand's a winner; and
[Bb] every hand's a
[F] loser
And the
[Bb] best that you can
[F] hope for, is to
[C] die in your
[F] sleep
VERSE 5:
So
[F] when he'd finished speakin', he turned
[Bb] back toward the
[F] window
[Bb] Crushed out his ciga-
[F]-rette, and faded off to
[C] sleep
And
[F] somewhere in the darkness, the
[Bb] gambler he broke
[F] even
[Bb] But in his final
[F] words I found, an
[C] ace that I could
[F] keep
CHORUS 2:
You got to
[F] know when to hold 'em;
[Bb] know when to
[F] fold 'em
[Bb] Know when to
[F] walk away; know when to
[C] run
You never
[F] count your money, when you're
[Bb] sittin' at the
[F] table
There'll be
[Bb] time enough for
[F] countin',
[C] when the dealings
[F] done
REPEAT CHORUS 2: [2 times, 1st time muted] 