"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

about a paralyzed

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

who lies helplessly as his wife "paints erselfup" to go out for the evening without him; he believes she is going in search of a lover. As he hears the door slam behind her, he claims that he would murder her if he could move to get his gun, and pleads for her to reconsider. A line in the song about a "crazy Asian war" and the time of the song's release led to the assumption the song was about a veteran of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, though this was never stated in the lyrics. However, Tillis stated that the song was about a veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. "Ruby" was first recorded by

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

in 1966.

Johnny Darrell Johnny Darrell (July 23, 1940 – October 7, 1997) was an American country music artist. Darrell was born in Hopewell, Alabama but grew up in Marietta, Georgia. After a stint in the army, he moved to Nashville and began managing a Holiday Inn ...

reached number nine on the country charts with the song in 1967, and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition released it in 1969.

Chart performance

The First Edition version

In 1969, after the success Kenny Rogers and The First Edition had enjoyed with the hits "

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is a psychedelic rock song written by Mickey Newbury and best known from a version by The First Edition, recorded in 1967 and released to popular success in 1968. Said to reflect the ...

" and " But You Know I Love You," Rogers wanted to take his group more into a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

direction. They recorded their version of the song, with Rogers singing the lead, in a single take. The record became an international hit for them, reaching number two in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and staying in the top-ten for 12 weeks. In the United States it reached number six on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 39 on the country chart. In 1977, now performing

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

after the First Edition disbanded in early 1976, Rogers made re-recordings of this, and a number of other First Edition hits, for his 1977 greatest hits package ''

Ten Years of Gold ''Ten Years of Gold'' is the fourth studio album by Kenny Rogers issued in 1978. It spent two years on the album chart and peaked at #33. In 1997, the album was certified 4× Platinum by the RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America ...

.'' (It was later issued in the UK as ''

The Kenny Rogers Singles Album ''The Kenny Rogers Singles Album'' is the seventh studio album by Kenny Rogers. Overview This album was issued in the UK by United Artists Records in 1979 and was the second Kenny Rogers album to reach the pop UK Albums Chart Top 2 It featured ev ...

.'') ''Ten Years of Gold'' topped the US country charts under that title, and as ''The Kenny Rogers Singles Album,'' it was just as successful in the United Kingdom.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

The song has been recorded many times by various artists.

The Statler Brothers The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening act and backup singers ...

covered it on their 1967 album, ''Big Country Hits''. Other artists who have recorded versions include

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs " Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and " 500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Earl ...

Dale Hawkins Delmar Allen "Dale" Hawkins (August 22, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was a pioneer American rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who was often called the architect of swamp rock boogie. Ronnie Hawkins was his cousin. Biography He bega ...

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", " A Thi ...

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country and pop hits " King of the Road", " Dang Me", and "Eng ...

Cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate ...

The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...

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Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

and the German band Wolfsheim. Several foreign-language versions have been recorded: Greek singer

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

recorded a French version entitled "Ruby, garde ton cœur ici" for her 1970 album ''Dans le soleil et dans le vent''; Gerhard Wendland recorded a German version "Ruby, schau einmal über'n Zaun" in 1970; Pavel Bobek, Czech country singer, recorded "Oh Ruby, nechtěj mi lásku brát" in 1970;

Gary Holton Gary Frederick Holton (22 September 1953 – 25 October 1985) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids (1972–1977), worked with Casino Steel (1981–1984), and played ...

and Casino Steel's English-language version was a number one hit in Norway at the beginning of 1982. French singer

Eddy Mitchell Claude Moine (; born 3 July 1942), known professionally as Eddy Mitchell, is a French singer and actor. He began his career in the late 1950s, with the group Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks). He took the name ''Eddy'' from the American ...

recorded a French version entitled "Ruby tu reviens au pays" for his 1974 album ''Rocking in Nashville''.

Answer songs

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer so ...

to "Ruby," entitled "Billy, I've Got to Go to Town," was released in 1969 by Geraldine Stevens, who had previously recorded successfully under the name

Dodie Stevens Dodie Stevens (born Geraldine Ann Pasquale, February 17, 1946) is an American rock and pop singer. She is best known for her 1959 song " Pink Shoe Laces." It debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 when Stevens was one day short of 13 yea ...

. Sung to the same melody with an arrangement quite similar to the First Edition version, "Billy" peaked at number 117 pop, number 57 country. It reached number 83 in Canada. In Stevens's song, Ruby affirms her love for her disabled husband, who is named "Billy" in her song whereas in "Ruby," he is not named. She pleads in turn for her man to have faith in her fidelity and her commitment to him even in his paralyzed condition. In 1972,

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing gui ...

released the album ''

Understanding Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object ...

'', which included the song "Ruby Dean." The lyrics and melody are similar to "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" but the story is told from the perspective of Ruby's son. The son urges his mother to respect his father and to stop seeing other men. In the original song, no children between the couple are ever mentioned.

In culture

The song is featured prominently in the 1971 West German film ''

Rio das Mortes The Rio das Mortes ("River of the Dead") is a river of Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian popul ...

'' directed by

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's mai ...

. The song is also quoted repeatedly by Sully, the protagonist of Richard Russo's 1993 novel ''Nobody's Fool''. "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town " is mentioned in series 1 episode 6 of

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...

's comedy television series '' dinnerladies''.

Video

A "social commentary" video consisting solely of a camera panning back and forth in a bedroom while the song played was shown at the end of a '' Huntley-Brinkley Report'' during 1969.

Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, England. Chet was ranked 1,027th ...

set up the video by linking it to the controversial

and the sacrifices made by U.S. servicemen and their families. Chet Huntley and

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkl ...

paused after the video and then signed off in their usual fashion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town 1966 songs 1967 singles 1969 singles Kenny Rogers songs Kenny Rogers and The First Edition songs Number-one singles in Norway Songs written by Mel Tillis Johnny Darrell songs The Killers songs Song recordings produced by Bob Montgomery (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Jimmy Bowen