Talk:The Gambler (song)

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Someone has added the gambler may have not died in the song and he may have "just been sleeping". This would hardly be "breaking even" (a phrase the song uses) after he states "the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep". This is a symbolic song throughout, why would they change the pace at the end. Also, as documented in this article, The Gambler dies on the Muppet Show when Rogers sang the song. It is clear that gambler does die at the end (these "final words" he speaks are certainly his last based on the song being symbolic and the gamblers death in the muppet show performance of the song). 66.67.229.26 (talk) 13:06, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

The term "broke even" is an obvious and unambiguous euphemism for death. That interpretation was not revealed on The Muppet Show, as is implied, although some people may have missed the meaning before the show.Royalcourtier (talk) 08:16, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Is there ANY OTHER poker game he could be referring to besides Texas hold 'em?
I've added this link twice and twice it's been removed. Why? --Coolcaesar (talk) 20:19, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

This song cold be about almost any variant of poker. At the time the song was written, Texas Hold 'Em was nowhere near as popular as it is now, so it is much more likely that an aged gambler being sung about in 1978 would be talking about a more traditional type of poker, like draw or stud. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.227.75.162 (talk) 11:22, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

THE GAMBLER or KENNY ROGER'S THE GAMBLER
This is a bizarre Wiki, It should either be merged with Kenny Rogers' Wiki with credit given to Schlitz as the composer, or it should be an actual The Gambler as a song itself Wikipedia entry. As is this is just a Kenny Rogers slanted half-ass job of The Gambler's history leaving out vast amounts of it's history, uses and references to the song.

Let me give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

The song The Gambler was written by Don Schlitz in August of 1976 at the age of 23. He has stated many times it took about twenty minutes to write the lion's share of it. After sharing it with several songwriters who were convinced he was on to something it took six weeks to compose the last verse. It only took two years to get it cut. Schlitz recorded The Gambler as a single in early 1978 on Capitol Records. (see how could you fail to know the year it was released by the writer himself and still write a Wiki entitled "The Gambler"???)

Schlitz version made it to #65 on the 1978 Country charts.

Conway Twitty’s son, Michael Twitty, also cut "The Gambler".

International Game Technology created a “The Gambler” slot machine which continues to be revamped for major casinos even today.

I'm not mentioning Bobby Bare, nor Johhny Cash as their mentions are a few of the things The Gambler wiki has done correctly. I can go on for pages, but.. This is someone elses job to decide what should be done with this Wiki, personally I would like to see it done correctly as it is, a separate Wiki, but do it the justice this song deserves or just slap it in with the rest of Kenny Rogers' Wikipedia page.--2602:306:CF5B:6C80:B85F:F76A:8963:F7CE (talk) 20:29, 13 September 2014 (UTC)Justice and June

While I agree there was a story behind the song before Rogers cut it, it is only notable for Wikipedia because he cut it and thus the article should reflect that. Like you say several other people cut it before Rogers (including two established stars) yet none of these versions charted higher than #65. It was Rogers that took the song to #1, made it world famous and IS know as THE GAMBLER. He also helped keep the song in the public domain by starring in several movies named after and including the song. 82.45.239.158 (talk) 13:29, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Jim Page
Jim Page (singer) had a song in 1976 called "Time Enough For Questions When The Killing's Done". I'm wondering if the the last line of this song's chorus is a reference to that. FiredanceThroughTheNight (talk) 03:12, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

UK chart peak
The "Chart (1978–1979)" table shows the UK chart peak as 22. But that peak was in 2007; the song didn't chart at all in 1978-1979. I'm not sure how to fix this - I don't want to simply remove all mention of the UK chart peak, but clearly it shouldn't be shown as if it occurred in the 1970s. --Zundark (talk) 20:02, 2 May 2024 (UTC)