(Ian Tyson)



Never hit seventeen

When you play against the dealer

You know that the odds

Won't ride with you

And never leave your woman alone

With your friends around to steal her

She'll be gambled and gone

Like summer wages



And we'll keep rollin' on

'Til we get to Vancouver

And the woman that I love

She's living there

It's been six long months

And more since I've seen her

Years have gambled and gone

Like summer wages



In all the beer parlors

All down along Main Street

The dreams of the seasons

Get all spilled down on the floor

All the big stands of timber

Just waiting for the falling

And the hookers stand watchfully

Waiting by the door



So I'll work on the towboats

With my slippery city shoes

Which lord I swore I would never do again

Through the the gray fog-bound straits

Where the cedars stand watching

I'll be far off and gone

Like summer wages



Never hit seventeen

When you play against the dealer

You know that the odds

Won't ride with you

And never leave your woman alone

With your friends around to steal her

She'll be gambled and gone

Like summer wages



And the years are gambled and lost

Like summer wages