i got shot off my horse so what? i'm up again
and playing in one of these big saloons on main
you can come up here take a look around these sinners'dens
you're only ever going to find one or two real games

nobody's driving me underground
not yet anyway
but either on the strip or on the edge of town
everybody pays everybody pays to play

yeah you ought to stay right where you are in sawdust land
it's probably the safest place to be
with your greasy little pork pies and your shoestring hands
it makes no difference to me

all those directions which we never took
to go our different ways who went and wrote
the oldest story in the book?
everybody pays everybody pays to play

curl up inside a boxcar dream and disappear
with a couple low roller friends
you were never one for trouble
so get out of here
i knew the game was dangerous back then

but nobody's breezing through these swinging doors
just ups and walks away
everybody has to leave some blood here on the floor
everybody pays everybody pays to play

Writer : MARK KNOPFLER
Copyright : Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group