1.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 16 pop hit)

The Gambler

Don Schlitz

© Winters Night Music, ASCAP

On the warm summer's evenin' 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 window at the darkness
Till boredom overtook us and he began to speak

He said son I made the life out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the cards were by the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind my sayin' I could see you're out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey I'd give you some advice

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow
Then he'd bummed a cigarette and asked me for the light
And the night got deathly quiet and his face lost all expression
Said if you 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 dealin's done

Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away 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 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...
You gotta know when to hold 'em know when to fold 'em...
You gotta know when to hold 'em know when to fold 'em...

**********

2.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 1 pop hit)

Lady

Lionel Richie

© Brockman Music, ASCAP

Lady I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you
You have made me what I am and I am yours
My love there's so many ways I want to say I love you
Let me hold you in my arms forever more

You have gone and made me such a fool
I'm so lost in your love
And oh we belong together
Won't you believe in my song

Lady for so many years I thought I'd never find you
You have come into my life and made me whole
Forever let me wake to see you each and every morning
Let me hear you whisper softly in my ear

In my eyes I see no one else but you
There's no other love like our love
And yes oh yes I'll always want you near me
I've waited for you for so long

Lady your love's the only love I need
And beside me is where I want you to be
Cause my love there's something I want you to know
You're the love of my life you're my lady

**********

3.

(# 3 country hit)
(# 4 pop hit)

Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer

Kim Carnes - Dave Ellingson

© Appian Music, ASCA

with Kim Carnes

Just look at you sitting there you never looked better than tonight
And it'd be so easy to tell you I'd stay like I've done so many times
I was so sure this would be the night you closed the door and want to stay with me
And it'd be so easy to tell you I'd stay like I've done so many times

Don't fall in love with a dreamer cause he'll always take you in
Just when you think you really change him he'll leave you again
Don't fall in love with a dreamer cause he'll break you every time
Oh could I fly just hold on before we say goodbye

Now it's morning and the phone rings
And you say you've gotta get your things together
You just gotta leave before you change your mind
And if you knew would I was thinking girl I turned around
If you'd just ask me one more time

Don't fall in love with a dreamer cause he'll always take you in...
Before we say goodbye goodbye

**********

4.

(# 39 country hit)
(# 6 pop hit)

Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town

Mel Tillis

© Cedarwood Pub, BMI

You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair
Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere
The shadow on the wall tells me the sun is going down
Oh Ruby don't take your love to town

It wasn't me that started that old crazy Asian war
But I was proud to go and do my patriotic chores
Yes it's true that I'm not the man I used to be
Oh Ruby I still need some company

It's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and the needs of a woman your age Ruby I realize
But it won't be long I've heard them say until I'm not around
Oh Ruby don't take your love to town

She's leaving now cause I just heard the slamming of the door
The way I know I've heard it slam one hundred times before
And if I could move I get my gun and put her in the ground
Oh Ruby don't take your love to town
Oh Ruby for God's sake turn around

**********

5.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 5 pop hit)

She Believes In Me

Steve Gibb

© Castle Music, BMI

While she lays sleeping
I stay out late at night and play my songs
And sometimes all the nights can be so long
And it's good when I finally make it home all alone
While she lays dreaming
I try to get undressed without the light
Then quietly she says how was your night
And I come to her and say it was all right
And I hold her tight

And she believes in me
I'll never know just what she sees in me
I told her someday if she was my girl
I could change the world with my little songs
I was wrong
But she has faith in me
And so I go on trying faithfully
And who knows maybe on some special night
If my song is right
I will find a way find a way

While she lays waiting
I stumble to the kitchen for a bite
Then I see my old guitar in the night
Just waiting for me like a secret friend
And there's no end
While she lays crying
I fumble with a melody or two
Then I'm torn between the things that I should do
Then she says to wake her up when I am through
God her love is true

And she believes in me
I'll never know just what she sees in me
I told her someday if she was my girl
I could change the world with my little songs
I was wrong
But she has faith in me
And so I go on trying faithfully
And who knows maybe on some special night
If my song is right
I will find a way while she waits
While she waits for me

**********

6.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 3 pop hit)

Coward Of The County

Roger Bowling - Billy Edd Wheeler

© Roger Bowling Music, BMI

Everyone considered him the coward of the county
He never stood one single time to prove the county wrong
His mama named him Tommy the folks just called him Yellow
Something always told me they were readin' Tommy wrong

He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison
I looked after Tommy cause he was my brother's son
I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy
Son my life is over but yours is just begun

Promise me son not to do the things I've done
Walk away from trouble if you can
It won't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek
I hope you're old enough to understand
Son you don't have to fight to be a man

There's someone for everyone and Tommy's love was Becky
In her arms he didn't have to prove he was a man
One day while he was workin' the Gatlin boys came callin'
They took turns at Becky there was three of them

Tommy opened up the door and saw his Becky cryin'
The torn dress the shattered looks was more than he could stand
He reached above the fireplace and took down his daddy's picture
As his tears fell on his daddy's face he heard these words again

Promise me son not to do the things I've done...

The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the barroom
One of them got up and met him halfway cross the floor
When Tommy turned around they said hey look ol' Yellow's leavin'
But you could've heard a pindrop when Tommy stopped and blocked the door

Twenty years of crawlin' was bottled up inside him
He wadn't holdin' nothin' back he let 'em have it all
When Tommy left the barroom not a Gatlin boy was standin'
He said this one's for Becky as he watched the last one fall

And I heard him said
I promised you dad not to do the things you've done
I walk away from trouble when I can
Now please don't think I'm weak I didn't turn the other cheek
And papa I sure hope you understand
Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man

Everyone considered him the coward of the county

**********

7.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 5 pop hit)

Lucille

Roger Bowling - Hal Bynum

© Brougham Hall Music, BMI

In a bar in Toledo cross from the depot
On a barstool she took off her ring
I thought I'd get closer so I walked on over
I sat down and asked her her name
When the drinks fin'ly hit her she said I'm no quitter
But I finally quit living on dreams
I'm hungry for laughter and here ever after
I'm after whatever the other life brings

In the mirror I saw him I closely watched him
I thought how he looked out of place
He came to the woman who sat there beside me
He had a strange look on his face
The big hands were calloused he looked like a mountain
For a minute I thought I was dead
But he started shaking his big heart was breaking
He turned to the woman and said

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille
With four hungry children and a crop in the field
I've had some bad times lived through some sad times
But this time your hurtin' won't heal
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille

After he left us I ordered more whiskey
I thought how she made him look small
From the lights of the barroom to a rented hotel room
We walked without talking at all
She was a beauty but when she came to me
She must have thought I'd lost my mind
I couldn't hold her cause the words that he told her
Kept coming back time after time

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille...
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille...

**********

8.

(# 1 country hit)
(# 7 pop hit)

You Decorated My Life

Bob Morrison - Debbie Hupp

© Music City Music, ASCAP

All my life was a paper once plain pure and white
Till you moved with your pen changing moods now and then till the balance was right
Then you added some music every note was in place
And anybody could see all the changes in me by the look on my face

And you decorated my life
Created a world where dreams are apart
And you decorated my life
By painting your love all over my heart
You decorated my life

Like a rhyme with no reason in an unfinished song
There was no harmony life meant nothing to me until you came along
And you brought out the colors what a gentle surprise
Now I'm able to see all the things life can be shining soft in your eyes

And you decorated my life...

**********

9.

Reuben James

Alex Harvey - Barry Etris

© Unart Music, BMI

Reuben James in my song you'll live again
And the phrases that I rhyme
Are just the footsteps out of time
From the time when I knew you Reuben James

Reuben James all the folks around Madison Caunty cussed your name
Just a no count sharecroppin' colored man
Who would steal anything that he can
And everybody laid the blame on Reuben James

Reuben James you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
The faded shirt the wrinkled brow
The calloused hand upon the plow
I loved you then and I love you now Reuben James

Flora Gray the gossip of Madison County died with the child
And although your skin was black
You were the one who didn't turn your back
On a hungry white child with no name Reuben James

Reuben James with your mind on my soul and Bible in your right hand
You said turn the other cheek
There's a better world waitin' for the meek
In my mind these words remain from Reuben James

Reuben James you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind...

Reuben James one dark cloudy day they brought you from the fields
And that lonely pinebox came
Just a preacher me and the rain
Just to sing one last refrain for Reuben James

Reuben James you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind...
Reuben James you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind...

**********

10.

(# 4 country hit)
(# 14 pop hit)

Love The World Away

Bob Morrison - Johnny Wilson

© Music City Music, ASCAP

Every now and then when the world steps in
Stealing all our time away
It soon takes so much we forget to touch
That's when I know it's time for me to say

Take my hand let's walk through love's door
And be free from the world once more
Here's my arm we can hide today
And love the world away

Once again we'll be where our hearts are free
And the time is ours to share
Love will always stay just a touch away
Come with me all the magic's waiting there

Take my hand let's walk through love's door...
We can love the world away

**********

11.

(# 1 country hit)

Every Time Two Fools Collide

Jeff Tweel - Jan Dyer

© Window Music, BMI

with Dottie West

You want things your way and I want them mine
And now we don't know just where you draw the line
How can love survive if we keep choosin' side
Who picks up the pieces every time two fools collide

You lay the blame on me and I put blame on you
Why do we keep finding faults in everything you do
But how long can we keep right and wrong so cut and dry
And who picks up the pieces every time two fools collide

We can save our love we still have the time
I know there must be a way we still haven't tried
To keep our hearts from breaking every time two fools collide
To keep our hearts from breaking every time two fools collide

**********

12.

Long Arm Of The Law

Roger Bowling - Billy Edd Wheeler

© Roger Bowling Music, BMI

In Cumberland Kentucky on a cool hot evening
Billy lay in love with Marianne
She was a rich judge's daughter he was a son of a miner
But that night their love was more than they could stand

The judge said to his daughter that son of that coal miner
Is someone you'll go hell to leave alone
She knew his dad so well she knew she couldn't tell
But the truth was bound in show before too long

Their love had started growing on its own
You can't out run the long arm of the law
No you can't out run the long arm of the law

Billy placed his hand on Mary and he felt the baby's moving
Kissed her and said I'll see you when I can
The judge had made a promise when he caught up with Billy
He'd sent him far away from Marianne

The whole town knew he'd do it too many times he'd proved it
To at least a hundred men behind the wall
He'd smiled behind that frown and when he brought that gavel down
He called himself the long arm of the law
And he'd set his mind on seeing Billy fall

In a hot humid mine shack a mid-white pulled the sheet back
And placed cool damp towel on Marianne
Billy's eyes were wide with wonder from the spell he was under
When she placed the new born baby in his hands

He didn't hear the siren just a baby's crying
That miracle of love was all he saw
When the door came crashing down and Billy turned around
He felt the heart and soul inside him fall
He stood face to face with the long arm of the law

You can't out run the long arm of the law
No, you can't out run the long arm of the law
You can hide out for a while he says with a smile
But you can't out run the long arm of the law

Seemed like everybody down in Cumberland Kentucky
Came out that day to see poor Billy's trial
The court was called to order there sat the judge's daughter
She looked so proud holding Billy's child

When they brought Billy to him the judge just look right thru him
As he held that Holy Bible in his hand
And he smiled at his grandson then his eyes cut back to Billy
And said I think this time the law will understand

Son I sentence you to live with Marianne
You can't out run the long arm of the law
No you can't out run the long arm of the law
He said to Billy with a smile I know you hide out for a while
Ah but you can't out run the long arm of the law
No you can't out run the long arm of the law

**********