SUMMER WAGES
(Ian Tyson)


Ian & Sylvia - 1967
George Hamilton IV - 1969
David Bromberg Band - 1977
Bobby Bare - 1981
Tony Rice - 1988
Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown - 1993
Chesapeake - 1994
Nanci Griffith - 1998



        

Never hit seventeen when you play against the dealer
For you know that the odds won't ride with you
And never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her
Years are gambled and gone like summer wages

And we'll keep rollin' on till we get to Vancouver
And the woman that I love who's livin' there
It's been six long months and more since I've seen her
Maybe gambled and gone like summer wages

In all the beer bars all down along Young Street
The dreams of the seasons are all spilled out on the floor
All the big stands of timber just waitin' for fallin'
And the hookers standing watchfully, waiting by the door

So I'll work on the towboats with my slippery city shoes
Which I swore I would never do again
Through the grey fog-bound straits where the cedars stand watchin'
I'll be far off and gone like summer wages

In all the beer bars all down along Young Street
The dreams of the seasons are all spilled out on the floor
All the big stands of timber just waitin' for fallin'
And the hookers standing watchfully, waiting by the door

So never hit seventeen when you play against the dealer
For you know that the odds won't ride with you
And never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her
Years are gambled and lost like summer wages
Years are gambled and lost like summer wages



**George Hamilton IV sang a different last verse:

She's a woman so fine I may never try to find her
For good mem'ries are what we had before
They should never be chained, for they're all that I'll take with me
Now I've gambled and lost my summer wages
Years are gambled and lost like summer wages





(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - December 2013)