Summer Wages

Never hit 17 when you play against the dealer

For you know that the odds won't ride with you

And never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her

Years are gambled and lost like summer wages.

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

And the woman that I love who's living there

It's been 6 long months and more since I've seen her

She may be gambled and gone like summer wages.

And all the beer parlors all down along Main Street

The dreams of the seasons 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 towboats In my slippery city shoes

Which I swore I would never do again

Through the worst fogbound straits where the cedars stand watching

I'll be far off and gone like summer wages.

Ah, she's a woman so fine I may never try to find her

For 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.

Years are gambled and lost like summer wages.

Copyright Ian Tyson, Slick Fork Music-SOCAN