Kenny Rogers - The Gambler

As a kid I remember liking "The Gambler" ... and then it became a song I couldn't stand. It didn't help that he came back with "Coward of the County" that pushed the same story shtick and that cemented him in my mind as a one trick pony and it was tiring.

With that settled I moved on and hardly ever thought about Kenny Rogers, and I'm sure good old Mister Rogers (not that one, the other one) never thought of me either. It didn't help that his hits were cringe infused sappy ballads or duets. Everything seemed to further cement the judgment of a fifteen year old kid.

Not that long ago I inherited a box of records that contained a whole lot of stuff that I'd be reluctant to donate to charity. However there were a couple of Christmas albums, some K-tel records (one was broken) and other odds and sods that I thought would be worth cleaning up. Among them was The Gambler, complete with the colour poster that was promised on the cover.

Over the last little while I've been putting the ultrasonic cleaner I got for Christmas through the wringer. The learning curve on this thing has been interesting, and kind of fun. I did experiment on a number of albums that I figured were toast anyway and as I found my way the results got better. I didn't feel that bad putting Kenny in the bath and I have to say I was surprised at how well the old guy cleaned up. Yeah I know he's dead, but his music lives on.

At the risk of exposing the tinfoil hat I wear under my toque I have to let you in on something. I'm pretty sure that time travel is a thing. A little over a decade ago there was a nifty little movie called Safety Not Guaranteed that starred the ever reliable Mark Duplass and a young Aubrey Plaza. The movie was supposedly inspired by what was considered a joke ad from the late '90s. Well, I've done my research and I have concluded that:

• The ad was not a joke
• The movie was a documentary
• Aubrey Plaza went back to 1978
• She's responsible for all of this as she pushed to have Kenny's version come out before Johnny Cash could his cover of "The Gambler" a song he had recorded before Kenny

Now before you think I'm smokin' banana peals bear with me. I've always thought the cover to The Gambler was kind of cool. I didn't have to like Kenny Rogers to appreciate the art work. So here I am four and a half decades (and a bit, I can do math) later and am looking at the cover, and reading the back credits, and yes admiring the "color poster included" inside the jacket. 

Looking at the cover again I suddenly saw it and couldn't unsee it. There on the cover wearing a red feather boa with a feather in her hair was Aubrey Plaza. Holy shit.

Time travel is real. Kenny Rogers knew it too. You could see it in his eyes. He was indeed the gambler and his dead eyes weren't going to give away a tell or let you know that he knew, and by the time anyone would figure it out no one would believe it anyway.

Aubrey knew this was going to be a monster hit, and I'll bet she told Kenny to go all in and just do what he wanted so long as "The Gambler" was front and centre. The album would be a hit it was a sure thing, and it wouldn't matter if he recorded rock songs, disco songs or included jazz scat singing. People would eat this shit up and over five million people ate the shit sandwich. Heck make that five million and one.

Some kidding aside I'll admit I secretly liked "The Gambler" but I did get sick of it ... and when he followed up with "Coward of the County" I didn't want to like it ... but I did, and then got sick of it. I figured if I just pretended I never liked them it would be easier to dismiss Kenny Rogers. Which is what I did.

Don't get me wrong, I was never enough of a fan to have any interest in listening to this album. However I find myself with motive and opportunity and so I listened. The two songs here that were big are still impressive (the other being "She Believes in Me" ... the she referenced was no doubt Aubrey), and one thing I never gave any thought to was how good a singer Kenny Rogers was. I mean, holy crap he could sing. He'd dial up the gravel with his rock voice, and leave some grit when he was narrating and then he'd smooth it out when he wanted to sing. I mean, seriously the dude was the real deal.

The other thing I never expected was how varied the songs on the album were. I just thought Kenny strayed into the country lane after he left The First Edition. I read an interview where he said country music didn't forget their own, whereas pop music ate its young (heavily paraphrased). Somewhere The Gambler is listed as one of the most influential country albums of all time. Except this isn't a country album, it's an album that has a country song on it. 

I was really surprised at how much I liked this. Aubrey knew a good thing, and if this was a shit sandwich all I have to say is ...

"Please sir, I want some more."