| Lyrics: | by Bob Dylan
Come around you rovin' gamblers and a story I will tell
About the
greatest gambler, you all should know him well.
His name was Will O' Conley and he gambled all
his life,
He had twenty-seven children, yet he never had a wife.
And it's ride, Willie,
ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
He gambled in the White House and in the railroad yards,
Wherever there was
people, there was Willie and his cards.
He had a reputation as the gamblin'est man
around,
Wives would keep their husbands home when Willie came to town.
And it's ride,
Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
Sailin' down the Mississippi to a town called New Orleans,
They're still
talkin' about their card game on that Jackson River Queen.
"I've come to win some money,"
Gamblin' Willie says,
When the game finally ended up, the whole damn boat was his.
And
it's ride, Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody
really knows.
Up in the Rocky Mountains in a town called Cripple Creek,
There was an
all-night poker game, lasted about a week.
Nine hundred miners had laid their money
down,
When Willie finally left the room, he owned the whole damn town.
And it's ride,
Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
But Willie had a heart of gold and this I know is true,
He supported all his
children, and all their mothers too.
He wore no rings or fancy things, like other gamblers
wore,
He spread his money far and wide, to help the sick and the poor.
And it's ride,
Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
When you played your cards with Willie, you never really knew
Whether he was
bluffin' or whether he was true.
He won a fortune from a man who folded in his chair.
The
man, he left a diamond flush, Willie didn't even have a pair.
And it's ride, Willie,
ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
It was late one evenin' during a poker game,
A man lost all his money, he
said Willie was to blame.
He shot poor Willie through the head, which was a tragic
fate,
When Willie's cards fell on the floor, they were aces backed with eights.
And it's
ride, Willie, ride,
Roll, Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really
knows.
So all you rovin' gamblers, wherever you might be,
The moral of this story is
very plain to see.
Make your money while you can, before you have to stop,
For when you
pull that dead man's hand, your gamblin' days are up.
And it's ride, Willie, ride,
Roll,
Willie, roll,
Wherever you are a-gamblin' now, nobody really knows |
