KENTUCKY GAMBLER
(Dolly Parton)

Dolly Parton - 1974
Merle Haggard - 1974


I wanted more from life than four kids and a wife
And a job at a dark Kentucky mine
A twenty acre farm with a shacky house and barn
That's all I had and all I left behind

But at gambling I was lucky and so I left Kentucky
And left behind my woman and my kids
Into the gay casino in Nevada's town of Reno
This Kentucky gambler planned to get rich quick

Kentucky gambler, who's gonna love your woman in Kentucky
Yeah, and who's gonna be the one to give her everything she needs
Kentucky gambler, who's gonna raise your children in Kentucky
And who's gonna keep 'em fed and keep them shoes on their feet

There at the Gambler's Paradise, Lady Luck was on my side
And this Kentucky gambler played just right
Yeah, I won at ev'rything I played, really thought I had it made
But I should've quit and gone on home that night

But when you love the greenback dollar
Sorrow's always bound to follow
And Reno dreams fade into neon ember
And Lady Luck she leads you on
She'll stay a while and then she's gone
You better go on home, Kentucky gambler

But a gambler never seems to stop
Till he loses all he's got
And with a money-hungry fever I played on
I played till I'd lost all I'd won
I was right back where I started from
Then I started wantin' to go home

Kentucky gambler, there ain't nobody waitin' in Kentucky
When I ran out somebody else walked in
Kentucky gambler, looks like you ain't really very lucky
And it seems to me a gambler loses much more than he wins
Much more than he wins







(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - May 2011)