There’s a new radio station in our town that plays old country songs. And while I absolutely hate “new” country, for some reason I don’t mind some of the old stuff. One of the songs they play is “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” by Kenny Rogers. Now, Kenny and I have a special bond because we share an August 21 birthday. And even though he looks downright scary because of all the plastic surgery he’s had, how can you hate on somebody who told you the story of The Gambler?

Anyway, while his slow version of “Ruby” is a classic, I prefer Cake’s version. You might remember their slow-burning song “The Distance” (“Reluctantly crouched…at the starting line…engines thumping…and pumping…in time…”) or their later hit “Short Skirt/Long Jacket.” But their cover of “Ruby” puts them firmly in jangly country-rock territory, stays true to the original with just a slightly faster beat, and a nice touch at the end.

This is a band that has dabbled in all kinds of different genres, from funk to ska, and excels at all of them. “Ruby” was on their album “B Sides and Rarities” and of course needs to go on your ipod.

This is the story behind the song, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The song is about a disabled, dying veteran of “that old crazy Asian war” (the Korean War), who begs his lover not to cheat on him. Songwriter Mel Tillis based the song on a couple who lived near his family in Florida. In real life, the man was wounded in Germany in World War II and sent to recuperate in England. There he married a nurse who took care of him at the hospital. The two of them moved to Florida shortly afterward, but he had periodic return trips to the hospital as problems with his wounds kept flaring up. His wife saw another man as the veteran lay in the hospital. Tillis changed the war to the more recent Korean War in the song, and departed from the ending that happened in real life: the man killed his wife in a murder-suicide. This is however alluded to in the song, with the singer avowing, “If I could move I’d get my gun and put her in the ground.”

You’ve painted up your lips
And rolled and curled your tinted hair
Ruby are you contemplating
Going out somewhere
The shadow on the wall
Tells me the sun is going down
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

It wasn’t me
That started that old crazy Asian war
But I was proud to go
And do my patriotic chore
And yes, it’s true that
I’m not the man I used to be
Oh, Ruby I still need some company

Its hard to love a man
Whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and the needs of a woman your age
Ruby I realize,
But it won’t be long I’ve heard them say until I’m not around
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

She’s leaving now cause
I just heard the slamming of the door
The way I know I’ve heard it slam
Some 100 times before
And if I could move I’d get my gun
And put her in the ground
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

Oh Ruby for God’s sake turn around

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See also: Cake’s “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”