Summer Wages

Ian Tyson


Never hit seventeen when you play against the dealer
For you know that the odds won't ride with you.
Never leave your woman alone, when your friends are out to steal her
Years are gambled and lost, like summer wages.

And we'll rolling on till we get ro Vancouver
And the woman I love whose waiting there
It's been six long months and more since I've seen her
May be gambled and lost like summer wages.

  In all the beer parlors all down along Main Street
  All the dreams of the season 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 tow boats, with my slippery city shoes
Which I swore I would never do again
Through the gray fog-bound straits where the ceders stand watching
I'll be far off and gone like summer wages

She's a woman so fine, I may never try to find her
For the 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

Repeat first verse