Saturday breaks sunny, cool and not unusual for March.  The number of deaths due to covid-19 begin to increase dramatically.  The Mayor of New York made a public appeal for medical supplies, stating that the hospitals would run out of needed supplies in early April.  As usual the promises of test-kits, just ordered, to be drop-shipped directly to the states came from the President.

We are about to realize what a true siege of our cities, towns and neighborhoods is like.  The sickness is a random killer.  The aged are more vulnerable, but that is a generalization, not a cause for relief on account of your child, or if you happen to be in the prime of life.

I do not often feel loss at the news of the passing of an entertainer.  Kenny Rogers died last night at 10:25PM.  He was eighty one years old.  I never heard him perform in person, but I felt a connection, as if somehow I knew him, and that we would have understood one another, if we should meet.  His hit song, The Gambler, captured in concise parabolic form, a philosophy of life, a way of being which I aspire to practice.

Rolling Stone Magazine printed a apt eulogy of Rogers life and contribution to humanity.  Following an excerpt from the magazine article is a youtube of Rogers performing The Gambler.

Rest in peace my friend.

Born August 21st, 1938, Kenneth Ray Rogers was the fourth of eight children, raised in the San Felipe Courts, a public-housing project in Houston’s Fourth Ward……………..

With “The Gambler,” Rogers hit a musical trifecta: a ghostly allegory built around trains, the draw of the cards, and the wisdom of the aged. Nashville songwriter Don Schlitz, who was working the night shift at Vanderbilt University and pitching his tunes around Music Row in the daytime, would take home a Grammy and CMA Song of the Year honors for it, but Rogers parlayed it into a mini-empire, portraying fictional Old West gambler Brady Hawkes in five made-for-TV films from 1980 to 1994. The song also spawned a slot machine, a book series, and Rogers’ appearance in a humorous 2014 GEICO Insurance commercial, where his a cappella rendition of the song’s memorable chorus (“You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em…”) annoys his fellow poker players. The song was sampled on the title track from Fugees member Pras’ 1998 solo album and a 2000 hip-hop remix features Rogers along with Wyclef Jean and Pharoahe Monch. Reggae artist Busy Signal covered it in 2011.

— Rolling Stone magazine March 20, 2020

The Gambler

By Kenny Rogers

On a warm summer’s evening
On a train bound for nowhere
I met up with a gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-starin’
Out the window at the darkness
The boredom overtook us
And he began to speak

He said, “Son, I’ve made a life
Out of readin’ people’s faces
And knowin’ what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes.
So if you don’t mind my sayin’
I can see you’re out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey
I’ll give you some advice.”

So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet
And his face lost all expression
Said, “If you’re gonna play the game, boy,
You gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold ’em,
Know when to fold ’em,
Know when to walk away,
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done.

Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin’
Is knowin’ what to throw away
And knowin’ what to keep.
‘Cause every hand’s a winner,
And every hand’s a loser,
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep.“

And when he finished speakin’
He turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigarette
And faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
And in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep

You got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
(When to hold ’em)
Know when to fold ’em
(When to fold ’em)
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done

You got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done

Lyrics by Don Schlitz