Kenny Roger's "The Gambler"

The rise of The Gambler

Arguably the most well known poker themed song, “The Gambler”, seemed to solidify Kenny Roger’s status as a music legend. While he was a country music star in his own right before, with over 15 albums recorded and several hits on the country charts prior to 1978, it was “The Gambler” that made him into the American popular music icon that he today.

The song was about a young man who shared a train journey with an old gambler and the wisdom the old gambler shared with the young man. The song also highlights how poker be a, slightly smaller, mirror of life. The song became a massive hit and its effects rippled into a series of ‘made for TV’ films with Rogers starring.

While the song became Roger’s signature with him even being referred to as “the gambler” after it became a hit, Rogers was not the creator of the song. The man responsible for creating and writing the song was Don Schlitz, who was surprisingly in his early twenties when he wrote it.

Schlitz came up with the concept in 1976 and then went on to write it. His mentor, Jim Rushing, heard the first few verses and strongly urged Schlitz to finish. Once it was complete Schlitz used his connections at Capitol Records to record the song which was then released as a single in early 1978. The song made it to #65 on the country charts making it a moderate success.

“The Gambler” was then taken to Larry Butler, a famous country music producer who had produced Rogers in the past and was at the time producing Johnny Cash’s new album Good Girl. Butler wanted Cash to use “The Gambler” on Good Girl. So Cash and Rogers recorded their own versions of the song, on consecutive days, with Rogers being released a month before Cash’s.

The song itself

The song itself was a surprising hit. Firstly it was about an old man’s wisdom but was written by a man in his twenties who had never even been on a train. It also defied the standards for hit songs back then; it was too long, it took forever to get to the chorus and there was no love interest.

Rogers brought an older 'persona' to the song that Schlitz just wasn’t able to do when he released his version 1978. The song was written from the perspective of a young man but with Rogers singing in his gruff baritone it seemed like it was from the perspective of the younger man who was now a wise old man himself.


The men behind “The Gambler”

Rogers won a Grammy for “The Gambler” in 1979 in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Schlitz also received a CMA Grammy for “The Gambler” in the category of Song of the Year. Schlitz went on to have a successful song writing career with over 24 number 1 country singles. He was indicted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.

So it seems both these artists managed to do more than break even.