The Roving Gambler
Channel: Stephen Griffith
Date: 22/09/2020

Day 188 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series

Sandburg writes: "Girls with a wild streak, in the farther yesterdays, often lost their hearts to the man in dapper clothes, with a big gold watch-chain across his vest, and with plenty of money. ("I don't care where he gets it.") That the man was a stranger in town, that he was a gambler, that he introduced himself saying, "Come with me, girlie" were points in favor of his audacity, nerve.

"Such a couple, jack and queen, are briefly sketched in this song. The later chapters, whether she had to take in washing, whether he was converted at a religious revival and set himself up in a respectable business, we do not know. There is a swing and self-assurance to the tune and words, the swagger of the old-time minstrel troupe going down Main Street arid around the public square, led by the high-hat drum-major holding aloft a long baton with a golden ball gleaming on the end."