See chance, rules, presence of mind, and seduction.
"Gamblers play just as lovers make love and drunkards drink,--blindly and of necessity, under domination of an irresistable force. There are beings vowed to play, as there are others vowed to love. I wonder who invented the story of the two sailors who were so possessed by the lust of gambling? They were shipwrecked, and only escaped a watery grave, after experiencing the most appalling vicissitudes, by climbing on the back of a whale. The instant they were installed there, they lugged out of their pockets dice and dice boxes and settled themselves down to play. The story is truer than truth. Every gambler is like those sailors. And in very deed there is something in play that does terribly stir the fibres of daring hearts. Is it an insignificant delight to tempt fortune? Is it a pleasure devoid of intoxiation to taste in one second months, years, a whole lifetime of fears and hopes?..." (Anatole France, The Gardens of Epicurus, p. 12).
"We are all gamblers. What we desire most intensely is that the inexorable procession of rational connection cease for a while. That there be installed, even for a short time, an unheard-of unravelling of another kind, a marvellous escalation of events, an extraordinary succession, as if predestined, of the smallest details, to the point where we think that things -- until now maintained artificially at a distance through a contract of succession and causality -- suddenly find themselves, not delivered over to chance, but converging spontaneously, concurring through their very connection in this self-same intensity." (Baudrillard "The Indifference of Space" from the book Mass. Identity. Architecture. (2003))
"The student 'never stops learning'; the gambler 'never has enough'; for the flâneur, 'there is always something more to see.' Idleness has in view an unlimited duration, which fundamentally distinguishes it from simple sensuous pleasure, of whatever variety." (AP 806).
"Gambling" is defined as "Any transaction or pursuit involving risk and uncertainty." (OED)
"The dicethrow affirms becoming and it affirms the being of becoming." (Deleuze "The Dicethrow," Neitzsche and Philosophy p. 25)
"The gamblers, of whom I descried not a few, were still more easily recognizable. They wore every variety of dress, from that of the desperate thimble-rig bully, with velvet waistcoat, fancy neckerchief, gilt chains, and filagreed buttons, to that of the scrupulously inornate clergyman, than which nothing could be less liable to suspicion. Still all were distinguished by a certain sodden swarthiness of complexion, a filmy dimness of eye, and pallor and compression of lip. There were two other traits, moreover, by which I could always detect them: a guarded lowness of tone in conversation, and a more than ordinary extension of the thumb in a direction at right angles with the fingers." (Poe Man of the Crowd)
SONGS
THE GAMBLER
THE GAMBLER
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 death
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
-Marc Almond
THERE’S A PLACE IN THE
WORLD FOR A GAMBLER
Dan Fogelberg
There's a place in the world
For a gambler
There's a burden that only
He can bear
There's a place in the world
For a gambler,
And he sees
Oh, yes he sees...
And he sees
Oh, yes he sees...
There's a song in the heart
Of a woman
That only the truest of loves
Can release.
There's a song in the heart
Of a woman.
Set it free
Oh, set it free
Set it free
Oh, set it free
Set it free
Oh, set it free.
There's a light in the depths
Of your darkness
There's a calm at the eye
Of every storm.
There's a light in the depths
Of your darkness.
Let is shine
Oh, let it shine
Let is shine
Oh, let it shine
Let is shine
Oh, let it shine.
Let it Shine
KENTUCKY GAMBLER
Dolly Parton
He wanted more from life
Than four kids and a wife
And a job in the dark Kentucky mines
A twenty-acre farm
With a shacky house and barn
That's all he had
And all he left behind
At gambling he was lucky
So he left kentucky
Left behind his woman and his kids
Into the gay casino
In Nevada's town of Reno
Kentucky gambler planned to get rich quick
Kentucky gambler, who's gonna love your woman in Kentucky
Who's gonna be the one to give her what she needs
Kentucky gambler, who's gonna raise your children in Kentucky
Who's gonna keep them fed and keep shoes on their feet
At the gamblers' paradise
Lady luck was on his side
Kentucky gambler played his cards just right
He won at everything he played
Kentucky gambler had it made
And he should have quit and gone on home that night
But when you love the greenback dollar
Sorrow's always bound to follow
Reno dreams fade into neon amber
And lady luck, she'll lead you on
She'll stay awhile, and then she's gone
You'd better go on home Kentucky gambler
But a gambler never seems to stop
Til he loses all he's got
And so, Kentucky gambler, he played on
He played til he lost all he won
He was right back where he started from
Then he started wanting to go home
Kentucky gambler, there ain't nobody waiting in Kentucky
When you walked out, somebody else walked in
Kentucky gambler, looks like you ain't really very lucky
Seems to me a gambler looses much more than he wins
So you think about it
Kentucky gambler
Artist: Madonna
Album: Unknown
Title: Gambler
Gambler, gambler
Chorus:
I'm a gambler, and i will take you by surprise
Gambler, i'll aim this straight between your eyes
Gambler, yeah i know all the words to say
'cause i'm a gambler, i only play the game my way, yeah
Don't want to say this but i think that i should
I'm better off forgotten if you think that i'd be good
One day you see me the next day i'm gone
Don't fight me baby i don't want to hold on
I'm a gambler, a gambler
You're not happy with the way i act
You better turn around boy, don't look back
You're getting angry, you know i can see
You're just jealous 'cause you can't be me
(chorus)
Intermediate:
You can't stop me now
'cause i'm right and i'm making advances
Let me show you how
Tonight, i'll be taking my chances
On you, on you, on you, on you, that's right baby
I'm a gambler, gambler
You understand what i'm talking about?
(chorus)
(intermediate)
I'm a gambler, a gambler
Gambler, 'cause i'm a gambler
You can't stop me now
I'm on the road baby i know how
You can't stop me now
Oh no
You can't stop me now (repeat 3 times)
'cause i'm a gambler, yeah i'm a gambler
That's right baby
COMPULSIVE GAMBLER
Sam Philips
What was wrong with her
Why did she pick a winner
He would leave her everynight after dinner
She would undress
Make him nervous
But he would rather lay a bet
Artist: Whitesnake
Album: Slide It In
Title: Gambler
(coverdale/galley)
I've been a gypsy
For a thousand years
A victim of circumstance
I go wherever my destiny calls
I'm caught in a game of chance
I stand on the outside
Looking at love
I wanna get inside
I stand on the outside
Looking at love
Just trying to get inside
No fame or fortune,
No luck of the draw
When i dance with queen of hearts
A jack of all trades
But, a loser in love
It's tearing my soul apart
Still i stand on the outside
Looking at love
I wanna get inside
I stand on the outside
Looking in
I stand on the outside
Looking at love
Just trying to get inside
I stand on the outside
Looking in
The jack of diamonds
An' the ace of spades
Try to use me, and to abuse me
It seems the dealer
Wont give me a chance
I'm victim of circumstance
So i stand on the outside
Looking at love
I wanna get inside
I stand on the outside
Looking in
So i stand on the outside
Looking at love
Just trying to get inside
I stand on the outside
Looking in...
HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
"There were many individuals of dashing appearance, whom I easily understood as belonging to the race of swell pick-pockets with which all great cities are infested. I watched these gentry with much inquisitiveness, and found it difficult to imagine how they should ever be mistaken for gentlemen by gentlemen themselves. Their voluminousness of wristband, with an air of excessive frankness, should betray them at once.
The gamblers, of whom I descried not a few, were still more easily recognisable. They wore every variety of dress, from that of the desperate thimble-rig bully, with velvet waistcoat, fancy neckerchief, gilt chains, and filagreed buttons, to that of the scrupulously inornate clergyman, than which nothing could be less liable to suspicion. Still all were distinguished by a certain sodden swarthiness of complexion, a filmy dimness of eye, and pallor and compression of lip. There were two other traits, moreover, by which I could always detect them; - a guarded lowness of tone in conversation, and a more than ordinary extension of the thumb in a direction at right angles with the fingers. - Very often, in company with these sharpers, I observed an order of men somewhat different in habits, but still birds of a kindred feather. They may be defined as the gentlemen who live by their wits. They seem to prey upon the public in two battalions - that of the dandies and that of the military men. Of the first grade the leading features are long locks and smiles; of the second frogged coats and frowns.
Descending in the scale of what is termed gentility, I found darker and deeper themes for speculation. I saw Jew pedlars, with hawk eyes flashing from countenances whose every other feature wore only an expression of abject humility; sturdy professional street beggars scowling upon mendicants of a better stamp, whom despair alone had driven forth into the night for charity; feeble and ghastly invalids, upon whom death had placed a sure hand, and who sidled and tottered through the mob, looking every one beseechingly in the face, as if in search of some chance consolation, some lost hope; modest young girls returning from long and late labor to a cheerless home, and shrinking more tearfully than indignantly from the glances of ruffians, whose direct contact, even, could not be avoided; women of the town of all kinds and of all ages - the unequivocal beauty in the prime of her womanhood, putting one in mind of the statue in Lucian, with the surface of Parian marble, and the interior filled with filth - the loathsome and utterly lost leper in rags - the wrinkled, bejewelled and paint-begrimed beldame, making a last effort at youth - the mere child of immature form, yet, from long association, an adept in the dreadful coquetries of her trade, and burning with a rabid ambition to be ranked the equal of her elders in vice; drunkards innumerable and indescribable - some in shreds and patches, reeling, inarticulate, with bruised visage and lack-lustre eyes - some in whole although filthy garments, with a slightly unsteady swagger, thick sensual lips, and hearty-looking rubicund faces - others clothed in materials which had once been good, and which even now were scrupulously well brushed - men who walked with a more than naturally firm and springy step, but whose countenances were fearfully pale, whose eyes hideously wild and red, and who clutched with quivering fingers, as they strode through the crowd, at every object which came within their reach; beside these, pie-men, porters, coal- heavers, sweeps; organ-grinders, monkey-exhibiters and ballad mongers, those who vended with those who sang; ragged artizans and exhausted laborers of every description, and all full of a noisy and inordinate vivacity which jarred discordantly upon the ear, and gave an aching sensation to the eye. (Poe "Man of the Crown page _______ )
