Jake , The Rounder

They called him Jake , The Rounder ,
He did just as he pleased .
He always made a legend of
The life through which he breezed .

He played each game a plenty
And always won his share .
But it was at a hustler's game
His legend came to bear .

He took ole Stanley Moses
For quite a wad one night .
As Moses thought he had him beat ,
But it was Rounds all right .

Jacob Brooks had met a girl
And tried to make a play .
Then Rounder found them both alone
Just at the break of day .

Rounder's girl , or so he claimed ,
Would never stray again .
And Jacob Brooks was never seen .
Where did he go back then ?

Janie Clark was next to run
Afoul of Rounder's games .
They found her in an ole creek bed ,
Said killed by Corey James .

Rounder took ole Perry Smith
For one and forty two .
All that good ole Perry had .
He died , that's all we knew .

Rounder next met Mickey Starr
At Simpson's Bar and Grill .
And rounder might have lost that night ,
But he gave Starr a pill .

I don't think he ever knew ,
And no one dared to say .
And who would be the first to get
In Jake The Rounder's way ?

Rounder ruled the bars back then .
Most closed now , as you know .
But Jake sure left the only way
A man like him should go .

There he was , next to a tree
One cold December day .
His body blistered by the heat
Of branding irons , they say .

You may wonder who it was
That left him as he be .
I guess it's time I tell the truth .
His girlfriend , Jane , and me .

GREENWOLFE 1962