I am a roving gambler, I've gambled all around;

voiceCollected by Karl T. Gosnell For Mary C. Parler Sung by Annie Owens Ola, Arkansas November 27, 1958 Reel 272, Item 16 The Roving Gambler I am a roving gambler, I've gambled all around; Wherever I meet with a deck of cards, I lay my money down. I've gambled down in Washington, I've gambled over in Spain; I'm on my way to Georgia To gamble my last game. I had not been in Washington Many more weeks than three Till I fell in love with a pretty little girl, She fell in love with me. She took me in her parlor, She cooled me with her fan; She whispered low in her mother's ear, "I love this gambling man." "Oh, daughter, o daughter, How could you treat me so? To leave your dear, old mother And with a gambler go?" "O mother, o mother, You know I love you well; But the love I held for this gambling man No human tongue can tell." "I hear the train a-coming, She's coming around the curve; Whistling and a-blowing And straining every nerve." "Oh, mother, o mother, I'll tell you If I can; If you ever see me coming back I'll be with the gambling man."Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation