James McMurtry - Ruby and Carlos lyrics
Ruby said you're gettin' us in a world of hurt And down below the Mason Dumb Ass line the food gets worse I can't go back to Tennessee That NASCAR country's not for me Go on if you think you must Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night Ruby standing just outside the front porch light Chain-smoking Camel straights The sky off to the East got grey And he rolled off in a cloud of dust The grey colt nickered at the gate She said "you're right it's gettin' late You and me got work to do We can't be burning daylight too" She took down the long lead rope And stayed off that slippery slope The aspen trees were turning gold up top The talk was buzzing round the beauty shop "Wasn't he barely half her age?" "Well that's just how they do nowadays We should all a'been so lucky" By spring she'd had the run of all the freeborn men Ruby turned fifty in a sheep camp tent Her body still could rock all night But her heart was closed and locked up tight Potato fields all muddy and brown The gossip long since quieted down After one more Coggins test Pouring coffee for the county vet Pictures on the ice box door Of Carlos in the first Gulf War Black eyed, brown and youthful face Smiling back from a Saudi base Then Carlos on the big bay mare Heavier now and longer haired Looking past the saddle shed From way on back inside his head The old vet said one day Rube That colt will break an egg in you Now and then one comes along You just can't ride then he went on home The storm door didn't catch It blew back hard As she struck a match But she cupped it just in time Then she sent that ash tray flying ( CHORUS) Holding back the flood Just don't do no good You can't unclench your teeth To howl the way you should So you curl your lips around The taste of tears and a hollow sound That no one owns but you No one owns but you Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through He rode the tour bus while the singer flew Managed out of Music Row Carlos never saw the studio Session guys had that all sewn up He looks out the window as it starts to sleet Layin' on a friend's couch on Nevada Street Lately he's been staying high Sick all winter and they don't know why They don't know why or they just won't say They don't talk much down at the VA Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes What thoughts can get out past the wine He feels her fingers on his brow And right then he misses how She looked in that grey morning light She never shaved like they all do now He sees it all behind his eyes His hands go searching but they come up dry Halfway in that waking dream Carlos lets the land line ring He'd never have guessed it was Ruby calling A pin in her hip from the grey colt falling Figure eights in a lazy lope Stumbled on that slippery slope (Chorus x1)