肯尼。罗杰思凭着这首歌夺得到79年格莱美最佳乡村单曲。记得上大学的时候这个美国老头在同学中还是很受欢迎的，后来随着大量摇滚歌星的涌入，他的歌被淹没了。大家都去听KENNY G,Michael Boton,唐朝，黑豹。。。后来想起他是读弓枚写的“犹如滚石”，里面有这首“赌徒”的歌词，读完感觉象一个电影片段，老赌徒的表情动作历历在目！虽然乡村歌曲中向来不乏优秀的叙事作品，这一首依然是其中的矫矫者。
ARTIST: Kenny Rogers
TITLE: The Gambler

On a warm summer's evenin'
on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler;
we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin'
out the window at the darkness
'Til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, "Son, I've made a life
out of readin' people's faces,
And knowin' what their cards were
by the way they held their eyes.
And if you don't mind my sayin',
I can see you're out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey
I'll give you some advice."

So I handed him my bottle
and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette
and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet,
and his face lost all expression.
Said, "If you're gonna play the game,
boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away
and know when to run.
You never count your money
when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin'
when the dealin's done.

Ev'ry gambler knows
that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner
and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for
is to die in your sleep."

And when he'd finished speakin',
he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette
and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness
the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away
and know when to run.
You never count your money
when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin'
when the dealin's done.