Ruby And Carlos Lyrics - Live In Europe - James Mcmurtry

Ruby said you getting us in a world of hurt 

Down below the Mason-Dumbass 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 

In a grey colt nickered at the gate, she said, 

"You're right it's getting 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 

Now 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 have all been so lucky 

By spring she had the run of the free born men 

Ruby turned 50 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 

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 

And the ol' vet said one day Rub 

that colt will break an egg in you 

Now and then one comes along 

You just can't ride and he went on home 

And the storm door didn't catch 

And blew back hard as she struck a match 

But she cupped it just in time 

And she sent that ashtray flying 

And holding back the flood 

It 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 the 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 

The session guys had that all sewn up 

He looked out the window 

And it starts to sleet 

Laying on a friends couch on Nevada street 

Lately he's been staying high 

Sick all winter and don't know why 

They don't know why or won't say 

They don't talk much down on the V.A 

And Ruby's in his thoughts some times 

What thoughts can get out past the wine 

He feels her fingers on his brow 

And right then he misses how 

How she looked in that grey morning light 

She never shaved like they all do now 

He sees it all behind his eyes 

And his hands go searching but they come up dry 

Half way in that waking dream 

Carlos let's the land line ring 

He'd never guess it was Ruby calling 

A pin in her hip from the grey colt falling 

Figure eights and a lazy loop 

Stumbled on that slippery slope 

Holding back the flood 

It 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 the hallow sound 

And no one owns but you 

No one owns but you