Kentucky Gambler
| "Kentucky Gambler" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "You'll Always Be Special" |
"Kentucky Gambler" is a 1974 song written and performed by Dolly Parton. "Kentucky Gambler" was issued as a track from Dolly Parton's, The Bargain Store album from 1975. That same year, Merle Haggard and The Strangers covered "Kentucky Gambler" and it was their nineteenth number one song on the country chart. (Coincidentally, Parton's The Bargain Store album featured a cover of a Haggard composition, "You'll Always Be Special to Me".) The Merle Haggard and The Strangers version stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of eleven weeks on the chart.[1] (The following year, Haggard would cover another Dolly Parton song, "The Seeker".)
Content
A classic Dolly Parton story song, "Kentucky Gambler" tells the story of a miner from Kentucky who abandons his wife and children for the bright lights of Reno, where he initially does very well at gambling, "winning at everything he played". Eventually, however, his winning streak comes to a halt, as he loses all of his winnings. Broke, he returns home, only to find that his wife has found someone else and has moved on without him. He concludes that "a gambler loses much more than he wins".
Chart performance
| Chart (1974-1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[2] | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 147.
- ^ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
 | This 1970s country song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1974 singles
- Songs written by Dolly Parton
- Dolly Parton songs
- Merle Haggard songs
- Song recordings produced by Ken Nelson (United States record producer)
- Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles
- RPM Country Tracks number-one singles
- Capitol Records singles
- 1974 songs
- Songs about Kentucky
- 1970s country song stubs