On a warm
summer's evening,
on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with a gambler.
We were both too tired to sleep,
so we took turns a -staring.
Out the window at the darkness,
till 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 saying,
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 bombed 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
You got to know when to hold up
Know when to fold up
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 survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
Knowin' what to keep
Cause 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 speaking,
he turned back toward the window
Crushed out a 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
You got no when to hold up,
no when to fold up
No when to walk away
and no when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough to count
When the dealin's done,
you got no when to hold up
No when to fold up,
no when to walk away
No 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,
you got no when to hold up
Know when to fold them,
know when to walk away,
know when to run
You never count your money
when you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough countin'
when the deal is done