[Verse 1]

Never hit seventeen when you play against the dealer

For you know that the odds won't ride with you

Never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her

She'll be gambled and gone like summer wages

[Verse 2]

And we'll keep rollin' on till we get to Vancouver

And the woman that I love, she's livin' there

And it's been six long months and more since I've seen her

She may be gambled and gone like summer wages

[Chorus]

In all the beer parlors all down around Main Street

The dreams of the season get all spilled down on the floor

And the big stands of timber waitin' there just for fallin'

And the hookers waitin' watchfully, standin' by the door

[Verse 3]

So I work on them old towboats with my slippery city shoes

Which I swore I would never do again

In the gray fogbound straits where the cedars stand watchin'

I'll be far-off and gone like summer wages

[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus]

In all the beer parlors all down around Main Street

The dreams of the season get all spilled down on the floor

And the big stands of timber waitin' there just for fallin'

And the hookers waitin' watchfully, standin' by the door

[Verse 4]

Never hit seventeen when you play against the dealer

For you know that the odds won't ride with you

Never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her

She'll be gambled and gone like summer wages

[Outro]

Years are gambled and gone

Like summer wages