Songwriter: 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

With your friends around to steal her,
She'll be gambled and lost
Like summer wages.


And we'll keep rollin' on
'Til we get to Vancouver

And that woman I love
Who's living there.
It's been six long months

And more since I've seen her,
Maybe gambled and gone
Like summer wages.


In all the beer parlors
All down along Main Street

The dreams of the seasons
Are spilled out on the floor,
All the big stands of timber

Just waiting for falling,
And the hookers
Standing watchfully,

waiting by the door.

So I'II work on the towboats

With my slippery city shoes,
Which I swore I would never do again,
Through the great fog-bound straits

Where the cedars stand watching,
I'll be off and gone
Like summer wages.


In all the beer parlors
All down along Main Street

The dreams of the seasons
Are spilled out on the floor,
All the big stands of timber

Just waiting for falling,
And the hookers
Standing watchfully,

waiting by the door.

So, 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

With your friends around to steal her,
She'll be gambled and gone
Like summer wages.

And the years are gambled and gone
Like summer wages.