"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" | ||||
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Single by Johnny Darrell | ||||
from the album Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town | ||||
B-side | "The Little Things I Love"[1] | |||
Released | 1967 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:16 | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Songwriter(s) | Mel Tillis | |||
Producer(s) | Bob Montgomery[2] | |||
Johnny Darrell singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" on YouTube |
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis about a paralyzed veteran who lies helplessly as his wife "paints up" to go out for the evening without him; he believes that 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 that the song was about a veteran of the Vietnam War, though this was never stated in the lyrics. However, Tillis stated that the song was about a veteran of World War II.[3]
"Ruby" was first recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1966. Johnny Darrell reached number nine on the country charts with the song in 1967,[1] and Kenny Rogers and the First Edition released it in 1969.