On Wednesday, May 1, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, BILL ELLIS wrote:

And for the record (tho' this got said months ago before--sorry!)
Charlie Poole sings:
Don't let your deal go down (3x)
FOR MY last gold dollar is gone.
Which must mean in terms of Georgia Skin:
Count me out of this game
Because I'm busted.
Most versions that pick up on Poole read it the other way though:
Don't let your deal go down (3x)
TILL YOUR last gold dollar is gone.
Which I always assumed meant:
Don't stop trying to win
Until the bitter end.
Phrases like this need a Humpty Dumpty to tell them exactly what to mean.
The question is whether to be man or master to "the deal." If you're
master, who cares what it meant to Poole, Peg Leg Howells, Zora N. Hurston, etc.?
Interesting to see it as a little path into a big field of lore that people must have lived as thoroughly as they live Magic or D&D now.
BE

Charlie Poole sings:

Don't let your deal go down (3x)
FOR MY last gold dollar is gone.

Maybe a better transcription would be:
'Fore [=before = until] my last gold dollar is gone.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)