Summer Wages (Ian Tyson) Never hit 17 when you play against the dealer For you know that the odds won't ride with you And never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her Years are gambled and lost like summer wages. And we'll keep rollin on'til we get to Vancouver And the woman that I love who's living there It's been 6 long months and more since I've seen her She may be gambled and gone like summer wages. And all the beer parlors all down along Main Street The dreams of the seasons are all spilled down on the floor All the big stands of timber just waiting for falling And the hustlers sitting watchfully as they wait there by the door. So I'll work on the towboats In my slippery city shoes Which I swore I would never do again Through the worst fogbound straits where the cedars stand watching I'll be far off and gone like summer wages. Ah, she's a woman so fine I may never try to find her For good memories of what we had before They should never be changed for they're all that I'll take with me Now I've gambled and lost my summer wages. Years are gambled and lost like summer wages. Copyright Ian Tyson, Slick Fork Music-SOCAN Recorded by Ian and Sylvia, So Much for Dreaming, 1976, Vanguard. Also by Ian on Coyboyography, Stony Plain 1986, and by Tony Roce, Native American 1988 Rounder. JK BJS, JK
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