Story Behind The Song

A man loses a poker game but wins the love of his life.

Song Description

A man loses a poker game but wins the love of his life.

Lyrics

PLAYING FOR ALICE (Don Sparks)

Well there's a whole lot of things Lord that I have done
I'm not proud to recall
I was gamblin' one day I'm ashamed to say
With the boys in the study hall
You see Bill was in love with Betty
But she'd only go with him to the prom
If he could find a date for her best friend
Cause Ol' Alice wants to tag along

He said "You owe me one boys now so who'll be the man
To undertake such a task?"
And nobody spoke which you could understand
(Cause knowin' Alice that's a lot to ask)
He said "We'll just let Lady Luck decide
That's the chances a gamblin' man takes
And he cut the cards and dealt 'em down and
said "Boys let's raise the stakes"

And we played five card draw for Alice
And I just missed drawin' a straight
Yeah I was the man with the losin' hand
Takin' Alice out for a date
Well that was many years ago
But I thank God each day
For losin' and winnin' Alice
And for throwin' those aces away

Unlucky at cards lucky at love
That's the way it was I found
Cause love for me was comin' up
Even when the chips were down
Well I may be a fool but I know it's a rule
Sometimes if you lose you win
And if you get the chance to gamble on romance
Pull your chair up and say "I'm in"

Cause we played five card draw for Alice
And I just missed drawin' a straight
Yeah I was the man with the losin' hand
Takin' Alice out for a date
Well that was many years ago
But I thank God each day
For losin' and winnin' Alice
And for throwin' those aces away
Yeah for losin' and winnin' Alice
And for throwin' those aces away