Ruby Jewel Was Here Lyrics - Allison Moorer

In nineteen and double-aught 

A harlot who was hot to trot 

Gave a fine little bijou to the world 

With a blacksmith for a makeshift doc 

In a cathouse far from camelot 

Her gold mine brought to bed a baby girl 

When the child screamed from life's first slap 

The bawd said kid get used to that 

You'll never meet a day that isn't cruel 

Then she wrapped her babe in a petticoat 

Grabbed a bottle and made a toast 

Here's to my gorgeous bastard ruby jewel 

And the man at the piano played a tune 

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon 

Except ruby, no not ruby, ruby jewel 

Reared among the guttersnipe 

While her mama puffed the chinese pipe 

The salad days for ruby didn't last 

Forced to work and pay her dues 

Inside that poor man's moulin rouge 

The snot-nosed kid had to grow up fast 

Night and day she'd toil and sweat 

While brothel patrons placed their bets 

On who would be the first to break her in 

Then one night the madam screams 

Ruby get to room thirteen 

There's someone there who thinks you're quite a gem 

And the man at the piano played a tune 

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon 

Except ruby no not ruby ruby jewel 

In done up hair and a borrowed dress 

She climbed the stares scared to death 

Said a prayer and tip-toed through the door 

But on deaf ears her prayer fell 

Cause through her tears she stared at hell 

Standing there in nothing but his drawers 

She recognized the whiskered chin 

Bloodshot eyes and foul-mouthed grin 

He was the man who wore the silver star 

She tried to turn around and run 

But he pulled out his big six gun 

And said whore you won't get very far 

And the man at the piano played a tune 

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon 

Except ruby, no not ruby, ruby jewel 

Ruby jewel woke up in bed 

A crimson pool between her legs 

Naked as the day that she was born 

But lying there next to him 

Made her wish she hadn't been 

If this was all that living had in store 

Making sure he was asleep 

She quietly got to her feet 

Found his gun and aimed it 'tween his eyes 

She kept it there 'til he came to 

So he could stare down the barrel too 

Pulled the trigger once and watched him die 

And the man at the piano played a tune 

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon 

Except ruby no not ruby ruby jewel 

On a rainy night in nineteen-twelve 

Locked inside the town's new jail 

Ruby carved a message in the stone 

When morning came hacks led her out 

In ankle chains right through the crowd 

Who waited in the mud to watch the show 

They walked her up the gallows steps 

But the rope around her neck 

Dropped the trap as all the watchers cheered 

But on the wall of her cell 

In a tiny scrawl and misspelled 

Were the words ruby jewel was here 

And the man at the piano played a tune 

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon 

Except ruby, no not ruby, ruby jewel