Rambling, Gambling Willie

Lyrics:

• 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.