Kenny Rogers died in 2020 at the age of 81.
A few days after he died, on my way back from a traipse in the local hills, I encountered a couple the female half of which suffers from Parkinson's. Being the over-clever fellow that I am, I asked her what condition her condition was in, thereby alluding to a curious '60s number. Her husband caught the allusion and hipped me to a fact hitherto unknown to me, namely, that the band in question, The First Edition, was headed by Kenny Rogers before he went country. He was quite the genre-hopper. Before the acid-rock tune. he sang with the New Christy Minstrels, a 'sanitized' and 'wholesome' collegiate folk outfit. Here is "Green Green" with upbeat Barry Maguire in the lead. This was before Maguire got all topical and protesty and dark with Eve of Destruction in the summer of '65.
I never listened to much Kenny Rogers, but of course I know and like his signature number, now a permanent bit of Americana that taps into the myths that move the red-blooded among us. I mean The Gambler:
And when he finished speakin'
He turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigaretteAnd faded off to sleepAnd somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keepYou've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to runYou never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done.
You want a gambling song of theft, risk, loss and gain?
You can’t beat “Gallo del Cielo.”
Plus, Mexican and California place names, including Santa Clara.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIDZPRuPDpI
Tom Russell, “Tonight We Ride”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwh-h6pHN1Y
Lyrics
Panco Villa crossed the border in the year of ought sixteen
The people of Columbus still hear him riding through their dreams
He killed seventeen civilians you could hear the women scream
Blackjack Pershing on a dancing horse was waiting in the wings
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
We’ll skin ole Pancho Villa, make chaps out of his hide
Shoot his horse, Siete Leguas, and his twenty-seven bride
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
We rode for three long years till Blackjack Pershing called it quits
When Jackie wasn’t lookin’ I stole his fine spade bit
It was tied upon his stallion, so I rode away on it
To the wild Chihuahuan desert, so dry you couldn’t spit
Tonight we ride, you bastards dare
We’ll kill the wild Apache for the bounty on his hair
Then we’ll ride into Durango, climb up the whorehouse stairs
Tonight we ride, Tonight we ride
When I’m too damn old to sit a horse, I’ll steal the warden’s car
Break my ass out of this prison, leave my teeth there in a jar
You don’t need no teeth for kissin’ gals or smokin’ cheap cigars
I’ll sleep with one eye open, ‘neath God’s celestial stars
Tonight we rock, Tonight we roll
We’ll rob the Juarez liquor store for the Reposado Gold
And if we drink ourselves to death, ain’t that the cowboy way to go?
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
Tonight we fly, we’re headin’ west
Toward the mountains and the ocean where the eagle makes his nest
If our bones bleach on the desert, we’ll consider we are blessed
Tonight we ride, Tonight we ride
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride.
Good tunes, Joe.
Tom Russell’s characters need to heed the message of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOWjX4BpC24
And they need to hear this too: Marty Robbins sings “The Master’s Call”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mrI2xtkEMA&list=PLMcZ3J-hgUG7Mx3293qedhqHCjSTkAmZe&index=10
In fact the whole country could stand listening to these tunes.
To think they were popular when we were young. And now?
Clueless people embrace folly all around.
Then, hopefully, the cowboy gets to this place:
Yale Gospel Choir, “Done Made My Vow to the Lord”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2yf4PaXHLc
See, black and white together. The gospel will do that. Politics won’t.
Nice tribute to Kenny Rogers, but the credit for the powerful words of ‘The Gambler’ should go to the writer, Don Schlitz ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Schlitz ).
Yes!