Banjo Frank's Music
Death of a Riverboat Gambler
Train pulled into Cairo
no riverboat at the dock
when's the next boat comin
Tuesday 4 o'clock
So he walks into a tavern
twirlin his fancy cane
whispers boy I'm lookin for
a high stakes poker game
And that night he's playin poker
the others there deal him in
they figure he'll be losin
but he commence to win
And he keeps right on winnin
most every hand he plays
til one of them other fellas
is tremblin with rage
You won you all of my money
and damn you I know why
you're a no good god damn cheatin man
and by god you're gonna die
His eyes lookin wild and crazy
got a pistol in his hand
aw mister I ain't been cheatin you
I ain't no cheatin man
Three shots are fired
oh god the gambler man cries
then he falls down on the floor
and on the floor he dies
No one says a thing
then Luke says you damn fool
Ben you just done murdered a man
what are we gonna do
Hell he ain't got him no friends here
don't know no one in town
no one's gonna give a damn
who it was that shot him down
Well what about the young fella
who told where this game was
I'll tell him don't you say nothin
or I'll kill him if he does
Lets get him out of here
Luke go look outside
if there ain't no one out there
we'll take him for a little ride
Daybreak in Cairo
two schoolkids roamin around
they wander down an alley
and they see him there on the ground
Tommy its a dead man
one of them does say
and they get real scared
and they go runnin away
They find a deputy sheriff
tell him what they saw
his eyes stare right at you
his hand is like a claw
Deputy's wonderin are they
just makin a story up
but when he gets to the place
he says why its a dead man sure enough
I wonder where he come from
I wonder who he is
I wonder who he met up with
who left him here like this
Deputy sends for the wagon
they load the dead man in
then he goes around asking questions
but no one knows a thing
Sheriff says we ain't never gonna know
who it was that shot this man
so take him and get him buried
do it as quick as you can
Gravedigger shoveled the dirt
preacher man said a prayer
deputy stood a-watchin
no one else was there
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