"Gambler's Ruin" Revisited

A Potter song goes to Sea

Gambler’s Ruin

©2023 Words by Jonathan Potter. Music by Sea (plus italicized lyrics). All Rights Reserved.

Gambler's Ruin
(Sea's version)

I gambled and lost,
I learned the hard way
it only takes one toss
of the dice to lose your way.

I rambled and roamed,
I could not find my way,
I wagered my home
and lost what I could not pay.

The cards were dealt through the smoky haze,
I learned to count them like I count my days.
Sometimes you love life, sometimes you mock it,
but the gambler's ruin is an empty pocket ... 
and mine's as empty as they come.

I gambled for honey,
for sugar, spice, and gold,
for paper money,
for the one I could not hold.

I gambled and saw
a vision of my soul
go up in flame like straw,
the ashes dark and cold.

The cards were dealt through the smoky haze,
I learned to count them like I count my days.
Sometimes you make love, sometimes you mock it,
but the gambler's ruin is an empty pocket ...
and mine's as empty as they come.

I fell down and cried.
My tears overflowed
from somewhere deep inside
the jackpot of my soul.

That's when you found me
and reached out your hand.
The mystery 
I could not understand. 

The cards were dealt through the smoky haze,
I learned to count them like I count my days.
Sometimes you love life, sometimes you knock it,
but the gambler's ruin is an empty pocket ...
but now I've pockets lined with gold,
yes now I've pockets lined with gold,
now I've pockets lined with gold.


[click on the audio link above to listen to this song]

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NOTES:

Sea

is an amazing musician who has, for over a year now, been posting an original song every week here on Substack. At some point during our occasional chats, I mentioned that I’d like to hear what he could do with one of the rough-cut songs I occasionally post here among my poems. I was thrilled when he agreed to consider my song, Gambler’s Ruin.

Sea

took my lyrics and — with my blessing — gave them new life, a new tune, and a couple of excellent add-ons of his own, brought in the accomplished and versatile Kevin Scanlon for drums, bass guitar, banjo, mixing, and mastering, invoked the ghosts of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and came up with something astonishingly damn fine.

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