Know When to Walk Away

The Gambler
by Kenny Rogers

On a warm summers evening,
on a train bound for nowhere
I met up with a gambler,
we were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns at staring
out the window at the darkness
The boredom overtook us
and he began to speak

He said, son I've made a life
out of reading people's faces
And knowing what the cards were,
by the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind my sayin',
I can see you're out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey,
I'll give you some advice

So I handed him my bottle,
and he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
and asked me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet,
and his face lost all expression
Said, if you're gonna play the game, boy,
you gotta learn to play it right

Chorus:
You got to know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
and know when to run
You never count your money,
when you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin',
when the dealin's done

Every gambler knows
that the secret to survive is
Knowing what to throw away
and knowing what to keep
'Cos every hand's a winner
and every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
is to die in your sleep

And when he finished speakin',
he turned back towards the window
Crushed out the cigarette,
faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness,
the gambler he broke even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep

(Chorus repeats 3 times......)
You got to know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
and know when to run
You never count your money,
when you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin',
when the dealin's done

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