Marc Almond - The Gambler lyrics

On a dark night in a lost hour In a town built from neon and chrome Where Las Vegas seeks the desert In an old broken down casino There the gambler slapped his money down Dirty dollars one hundred or more Placed his last bet on a poker game Crossed his heart for the winning score But the players at the table Two men of the phantom creed Seemed to play with sombre purpose Than a reason and pure greed And the gambler felt his back freeze And fear brushed his ageing brow For he'd seen those men before in his dreams Here they sat before him now And the one smoothed back his black hair With a comb slicked by brylcream and grease Flipped the cards with a flippancy Of a wily and slippery ease With his sharp suit shade of lilac On a shuffle he made the cards sing Gold studs and menthol cigarettes Rubies set in a skull ring And the other of the clergy With a colour and robe of pale ivory Silver grey at the temples And a smile that was stern and was kindly Jack of hearts lead, wait for aces Became faces of family and friends Until the deck showed him a picture Of his life from beginning to end Reverend Life he flipped an ace And the gambler felt blood in his heart For he knew this was the game of games He would need all the Reverend's heart Anger, lust and gluttony The gambler seems hit hard Each failure and each feature Mapped out in the slippery cards Greasy Mr.D. flashed a winning grin And stood facing Reverend Life The Reverend paled as he saw the score The gambler felt pain as a knife His troubles, tribulations Revelations and regrets A wife, a child, a fight to trial Turned by the hand of d**h And the gambler saw his hand stained With the blood of his family ties And with the yellow smile of Mr.D In his mind he crumples and dies And these two great men from different worlds Faced each other and shook of hands The reverend shrugged "ah well next time" And departed for heaven's land And the flames leapt and the soul screamed And the cards scattered round the room And life is always a gamble A game from the cradle to tomb And the flames leapt and the soul screamed And the cards scattered round the room And life is always a gamble A game from the cradle to tomb And the flames leapt and the soul screamed And the cards scattered round the room And life is always a gamble A game from the cradle to tomb