Gambler New Songs Lyrics Page

Gambler New Songs Lyrics Page

The following is a set of lyrics for the new songs by Eric Woolfson as featured in the musical "Gambler: Das Geheimnis der Karten". I do believe the songs are presented in the order of performance. (I really need to take a class in German, then take a vacation to Mönchengladbach, not to mention Köln/Cologne!)

Anyway, the lyrics here are presented solely in the interest and promotion of the Gambler musical and the music from the Gambler musical. The lyrics are a copyright work of art owned and copyrighted © 1996 by the Woolfson Entertainment Group and Hazel Music, and published by either Woolfsongs Ltd/Careers Music, Inc. or Melodie Der Welt for Germany.

Warning: There were tons of typos in the programme. Whoever typed the lyrics in for that as well as the editor should be taken out for 100 lashes with a wet noodle or beaten senseless with marshmellows. I made as many corrections as I could here but may have added new ones myself.

Here are some additional links for Gambler:


Notes:

    Act I

  1. Green Light Means Danger
  2. Love In The Third Degree
  3. When The World Was Young
  4. Vespers
  5. Games People Play
  6. Far Away (Trio) [formerly called The World Is Far Away]
  7. The Golden Key
  8. Limelight
  9. Act II

  10. 9 x 9 x 9
  11. Halfway
  12. Eye In The Sky
  13. Snake Eyes I
  14. Far Away
  15. Snake Eyes II
  16. Time


This is the current discography entry:

1996-1997 German cast

1997 Sep	Gambler - Das Geheimnis der Karten	Musical Soundtrack
		    (The Secret of the Cards)
 
	CD 1997 GE	[homebrew]		GAMBLER1 (09/??/97)

    Act I
0:46	0:30	Fanfare				(instrumental)
6:59	7:01	Green Light Means Danger	Rafi Weinstock,
						Chris Van Tongelen
4:19	4:14	Love In The Third Degree	Chorus
6:18	6:14	When The World Was Young	Georgina Chakos
5:22	5:21	Games People Play		Rafi Weinstock, Chris
						Van Tongelen, Chorus
4:54	4:49	The Golden Key			Chris Van Tongelen,
						Rafi Weinstock
7:22	7:11	Limelight			Annika Bruhns

    Act II
	4:40	9 x 9 x 9 (Nine By Nine By Nine) Transvestite
5:13	5:10	Halfway				Georgina Chakos
9:09	9:01	Eye In The Sky			Rafi Weinstock, chorus
4:30	4:21	(You'll Be) Far Away		Annika Bruhns
7:22	7:19	Time				Chris Van Tongelen,
						Annika Bruhns, chorus
1:09	0:55	Medley				(various)

Total: 68:03 (68:10) (13 tracks)

	Music and Lyrics by:		Eric Woolfson
	Produced by:			Eric Woolfson and Haydn Bendall
	Engineered by:			Haydn Bendall
	Orchestra and Choir arranged
	    and conducted by:		Gavin Greenaway

	Leading Team [Production Staff]
		Musik und Texte		Eric Woolfson
		Inszenienrung		Elmar Ottenthal
		BÜhnenbild		Hannes Rader
		Sounddesign und	musi-
		kalische Arrangements	Haydn Bendall
		Soundconsulting		Othmar Eichlinger
		Choreografie		Peter Wissmann
		KostÜme			Sabine Coch
		Musikalische Leitung	Harry Koning
		Regie-Mitarbeit		Stefan Zinkgraf
		Lichtgestalting		Wieland MÜller-Haslinger
		Choir- und Orches-
		trarrangements		Gavin Creenaway

	Besetzung [The Cast]

		Character		Played By
		---------		---------
		Gambler			Reinhardt Brussmann, Gerardo Jak,
					Mario Taghadossi, Chris van Tongelen
		Showgirl		Annika Bruhns, Nicky Forsyth
		Casino Boss/Priest	Rafi Weinstock, James Sbano
		Countess		Georgina Chakos, Isabel Broders,
					Yana Kriz

    Notes:

	Starring Annika Bruhns, the show premiered on October 26, 1996
	at the MusicalStage in Mönchengladbach, Germany.  This cast
	recording was just released (in September 1997), about one year
	after it was supposed to come out (before the musical's debut
	was what was planned).  Currently, this live CD is only available
	at the MusicalStage's gift shop.  There is no designated release
	or distribution information on this Live CD.  Perhaps a more com-
	mercial release will be underwritten by a record label.  Also, a
	studio release is in consideration.

	The music featured in this musical includes tracks from The Turn
	Of A Friendly Card plus Limelight from Stereotomy and Eye In The
	Sky from the album of the same name.  The Limelight single is
	sung by Bonnie Tyler (elsewhere in this discography) was named
	the official ZDF German TV song of the Summer 1996 XXVI Olympiad
	in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
	
	For more info, see Alistair's Gambler miscellaneous web page.

	Songs featured in the show that are not on the CD include:

	    -- Vespers
	    -- The World Is Far Away
	    -- Snake Eyes I
	    -- Snake Eyes II

    Liner notes:

	The liner notes are all in German.  I don't have a translation
	as of yet, but basically, they give mini bios for Eric (Die Kom-
	ponist), Haydn Bendall (Der Sound -- i.e. engineer), the players
	(Die Haptrollen), and Die Story.

Late 1998, a bootleg double disc CD started to make the rounds. Rumor has it that an audio engineer who wasn't too pleased with the official single-disc version decided to make a professional recording of a later cast performance. For fans of Eric Woolfson, the Gambler musical, or Alan Parsons in general, especially those who could not attend any of the shows, this double-set is absolutely amazing. All the missing music is present, and you get lots of dialog from the musical. After listening to this recording, you'll never go back to the original. Period.

If it were an original release, the discography entry would look something like this:

1998 German cast

Gambler:  Das Geheimnis Der Karten (The Secret In The Cards)
----------------------------------

Disc 1 / Act I

1. Fanfare / Green Light Means Danger [9:46]
2. Love In The Third Degree [8:47]
3. When The World Was Young [11:50]
4. Vespers [4:34]
5. Games People Play [8:22]
6. Far Away (trio) [2:20]
7. The Golden Key [6:13]
8. Limelight [7:31]

59:23

Disc 2 / Act II

1. 9 x 9 x 9 [9:14]
2. Halfway [7:53]
3. Eye In The Sky [10:34] (includes Vespers reprise)
4. Snake Eyes I [7:54] (includes Halfway reprise)
5. (You'll Be) Far Away [5:10]
6. Snake Eyes II [4:31]
7. Time [11:25] (includes Love In The Third Degree reprise)
8. Medley [0:56]

57:37

featuring on lead vocals:

- Rafi Weinstock (Casino Boss/Priest)
- Chris van Tongelen (The Gambler)
- Yana Kriz (The Showgirl)
- Georgina Chakos (The Countess)
- Dirk Smits (The Transvestite, Gigi)

Music and Lyrics composed by Eric Woolfson
Produced by Eric Woolfson and Haydn Bendall
Orchestra and choirs arranged and conducted by Gavin Greenway

(p)1998, (c)1996 Hazel Music B. V.

Editorial

The release of this album is similar to that of computer software. Announcements of release dates are made, and broken. It was first stated that the cast CD would be available in October 1996 at the show's debut. Then the release date was changed to December, then March 1997, May 15, June 3, August, and finally, after almost a year, it has been released for sale at the theatre gift shop.

There are many reasons for the delay. It is possible that Eric wants a release he is truly satisfied with, i.e. Gaudi -- that's why there are two. Another possible reason is that the Gambler show is changing as time goes on, so there may be moves to make the CD contemporary with the show. And more importantly, the players keep changing, thus presenting different vocal versions of each song. (Bear in mind that these are just my opinions.

What are my thoughts on this CD? Well, it's not bad at all, and a must-have for most of us. In particular, I really, really like all the pieces done by Annika Bruhns. I also like The Golden Key and the redone EitS. More later...

It is also rumoured that there is a studio release under way. I believe that it would complement the live CD very well. On a first listen of some of Alan's solo works, there are those who miss Eric's presence. From the first reviews of the live CD that I've read, the overriding thought is that there is something missing too: Alan's impeccable engineering and Andrew's fine orchestral compositions.

It is perhaps not surprising that for many of us, if the genie in the bottle could grant that one wish, it would be for a reunification of Eric's incredible compositions with Alan's masterful engineering and producing. Of course, Andrew would be there with baton in hand, Ian contributing to the songwriting with superb guitar work and newfound saxophone skeels, and of course, Stuart on percussion and the rest of the band.

If you believe in power of magic...


Current Work

(update from 25 Sep 2003)
WEG has resurfaced again but with a website dedicately mainly to the new Poe musical and album named, Poe: More Tales Of Mystery And Imagination. Finally, we get to unwrap another delicious gem from the pen of Eric Woolfson. Here are some links:

(update from 21 Jun 2001)
The last we had heard from the Woolfson Entertainment Group (WEG), Eric was supposed to have been working on a new musical called "Poe," featuring music from you-know-where, however, that has yet to be materialized. Also, the WEG Internet domain has gone down (unpaid or reregistered) leaving us further in the dark. We will post any new information we hear.

Coming soon:

  1. Information and pictures from the Korean release of Gambler (1998 Korean cast).
  2. In 1999, the Sinshi musical company who brought you the original Korean production has taken their show to Japan! Another recording was made, the 1999 Japanese cast recording of Gambler is a much more "mature" version of the musical that was performed in Japan, albeit still using the original Korean dialog. It was not translated to Japanese.

- ed.

last updated by wesc:
$Date: 2003/09/25 18:20:59 $