The Lone Writer 7 months agoSeptember 11, 2022

Western Song: Summer Wages

Summer Wages is a song in Ian & Sylvia’s 1967 album, So Much for Dreaming, and Ian Tyson’s 1986 album, Cowboyography. It was under the Folk and Country genre, depicting a workingman’s tale. Sources also noted the song as Tyson’s ode to B.C. and possibly the best song written about the place.

So Much For Dreaming demonstrates the Folk and Pop Rock genre, released during the singing duo’s folk and country-rock phase in the late 1960s. It was their sixth album issued on Vanguard Records during the 60s.

Ian & Sylvia gained recognition as one of the top folk and country music duos in North America. Members of Western Writers of America included two of their songs, “Summer Wages” and “Someday Soon,” in the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Aside from these, Ian Tyson also wrote “Navajo Rug,” another of his Western compositions that made it to the list.

Table of Contents

Popular Recordings

Various artists recorded/released their versions of the song written by Ian Tyson. These artists were:

Ian & Sylvia
George Hamilton IV
The New south
David Bromberg Band
Bobby Bare
Ian Tyson
Tony Rice
Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown
Chesapeake
Nanci Griffith
The Good Brothers
Jim Wilson
Owen Moore
Bruce Dewar

Ian & Sylvia’s version of this song includes the western elements

So Much For Dreaming Tracklist

Here’s the complete list of songs in So Much For Dreaming, Ian & Sylvia’s album in 1967:

Circle Game
So Much For Dreaming
Wild Geese
Child Apart
Summer Wages
Hold Tight
Cutty Wren
Si Les Bateaux
Catfish Blues
Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies
January Morning
Grey Morning

Listen to Summer Wages (Ian & Sylvia Version)

Ian & Sylvia’s version of this beloved Western song begins with the strum of a rugged steel string guitar, followed by a classic bass line and drums. Ian Tyson’s vocals add much to the duo’s cover of this song.

You can listen to this classic Western song below.

Summer Wages Lyrics

Never hit seventeen
When you play against the dealer
For you know that the odds
Won't ride with you.

Never leave your woman alone
When your friends are out to steal her
Years are gambled and lost
Like summer wages.

And we'll keep rolling on
'Til we get to Vancouver
And the woman that I love
Who's living there.

It's been six long months
And more since I've seen her
Made a gamble and gone
Like summer wages.

In all the beer parlors
All down along Main Street
The dreams of the seasons
Are all spilled out on the floor.

Of the big stands of timber
Just waitin' for fallin'
And the hustlers sittin' watchfully
As they wait there by the door.

So I'll work on the towboats
With my slippery city shoes
Which I swore I would never do again.

Through the gray fogbound straits
Where the cedars stand watchin'
I'll be far off and gone
Like summer wages.

Ah, she's a woman so fine
I may never try to find her
For good memories of what we had before.

They should never be changed
For they're all that I'll take with me
Now, I've gambled and lost
My summer wages.

Son, never hit seventeen
When you play against the dealer
For you know that the odds
Won't ride with you.

Never leave your woman alone
When your friends are out to steal her
Years are gambled and lost
Like summer wages.

Oh, years are gambled and lost
Like summer wages.

The Lone Writer

The Lone Writer is an American frontier and Old West journalist and historian. He loves to read, write and review all things western, whether historical or fiction.