--The Gambler Muppet--

Was over at 21 Thame Road just now for dinner and KT Yeo was playing this song repeatedly... the tune was stuck onto my mind as I walked home... so here's a post on it!

On a warm summer's evening on a train bound for nowhere
I met up with a gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-staring out the window at the darkness
'Til boredom overtook us and he began to speak
He said, "Son, I've made my life out of reading people's faces
And knowing what their cards were by the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind me saying, 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, you gotta learn to play it right."

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away, know when to run
You never count your money when you're sitting at the table
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done
Now every gambler knows the secret to surviving
Is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser

And the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep
So when he'd finished speaking he turned back toward 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, know when to run
You never count your money when you're sitting at the table
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done

I guess it's not only in Texas hold'em poker that the song applies to! It's also a metaphor of life... at the end of the day, it's how we live our lives - whether it'll be a "winning" or "losing" hand, it depends on how we play it!