Don Schlitz, Songwriter Of ‘The Gambler,’ Passes Away At 73

Don Schlitz, who died Thursday at the age of 73, might have been the most famous “gambler” gamblers were not acquainted with.

But good luck finding anyone who’s ever sat down at a poker table and didn’t have this little ditty running through their heads at some point.

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 dealing’s done

Yes, Schlitz was the lyricist behind what has to be the most famous song about gambling ever written, simply titled “The Gambler.”

Incredibly, it was the first song Schlitz ever wrote that was recorded, and it launched him into the country music stratosphere. He went on to pen over 50 top 10 hits, two dozen of which hit No. 1 on the country charts. Artists who sang Schlitz’s tunes, in addition to Kenny Rogers’ take on “The Gambler,” included Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Whitley, Alison Krauss, and tons more. 

When Schlitz was being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rogers quipped, “Don doesn’t just write songs, he writes careers.”

Schlitz also punched a ticket to two other Hall of Fames: The Country Music Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. In 2022, he was also inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. 

Schlitz died suddenly of an aneurysm, according to his publicist. 

The Gambler

As for his most famous hit?

“Something more than me wrote that song,” he said in a 2022 interview with The Tennessean. “There was something going through my head, which was my father. It was just a song, and it somehow filtered through me.”

When he wrote the song, he was only 23 and working as a computer operator. It took over two years to see it come to life.

And Rogers wasn’t the first.

Bobby Bare — based on a recommendation from Shel Silverstein, the author of The Giving Tree — was the first to take a crack at it. The Charlie Tango took it out for a spin, followed by Hugh Moffatt and Schlitz himself.

But the song went nowhere. 

Johnny Cash took a swing at it, and it failed to chart. But then Rogers got his hands on it, and the rest is music history.

“Kenny singing ‘The Gambler’ is like Johnny Cash singing ‘Ring of Fire‘ or Dolly Parton singing ‘Jolene,’” Schlitz told The Tennessean. 

Rogers then went on to star as the eponymous “Gambler” in a quintet of made-for-television movies. There were also books and a slot machine created around the character Schlitz created.

“I listened to people talk, I read, I wanted to write songs that I wanted to hear,” he said in a 2022 interview with American Songwriter magazine. “Most importantly, I wanted to find an honest way of saying something that came from my heart.”