Well Jesse was a rovin' gambler Nine ball was his game He kept one step out ahead of his Rep One town out ahead of his fame
I think I mighta seen him in Clovis But the place was kinda loud Even so, it was a long time ago When my head sorta stayed in a cloud
There's a lotta green in the city That you can't cut thick or thin There's a lot of green between fat and lean That you might never see again, Oh, Jesse You might never see again
Well I KNOW I saw him in Shreveport The time this song's about I was hangin' in town 'cause the river was down Like my sister I was sweatin' the drought
He was playin' some kid from Dallas Who could out talk a freeway cop A day and a half they'd been on a raft Tryin' to play till the other would drop
There's a lotta green in the city That you can't cut thick or thin There's a lot of green between fat and lean That you might never see again, Oh, Jesse You might never see again
Carmen wore a red silk dress She lean'd beside the coke machine She must have been the prize that was in his eyes It was as clear as gasoline
Twenty seven hundred on the table Another twenty five in the dark Dallas was talkin' up a blue streak As Jesse reached for the chalk
The room got deathly quiet The newsboy shut his mouth The cold north wind changed it's mind again And blew lazy from the south
The whippoorwills quit singin' Not even the judge did laugh When Jesse Justice chalked his saber And sliced the 9 in half
There's a lotta green in the city That you can't cut thick or thin There's a lot of green between fat and lean That you might never see again, Oh, Jesse You might never see again