This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair
Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere?
The shadows on the wall tell 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
It's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and needs of a woman your age really 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 heard its slams one hundred 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
Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere?
The shadows on the wall tell 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
It's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and needs of a woman your age really 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 heard its slams one hundred 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
Lyrics submitted by foreverago, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town Lyrics as written by Mel Tillis
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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. 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.this info was provided by wiki
Interesting.<br /> <br /> It's a peculiar song; I have so much sympathy with the dying man, until the lyrics: <br /> "And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground"<br /> Then I lose all sympathy with him, because that shows me that he doesn't love he - he is just obsessed with possesing her. And that is also what the real story behind the song shows. That's just not love. If you love someone you wish them happiness, with or without you.<br /> <br /> It's a great song, though!
This song is definately about a war vet, i know that much. But i dont think it's about a prostitute, i'ts probably about his girlfriend who was lonely during the 'crazy asian war' but she waited for him anyway. And when he returned home, he wasn't the man he was when he left and she has 'needs' that he can't fulfill.
k well ive never heard this song before and no one else has commented on this song but yeah ermmm me story for this song is: there's a dude and a chica(ruby) and they have some sort of couple relationship going on and i guess he came back from a war and she doesnt like the way he looks now i guess so she gets ready and leaves him and he's all "oh ruby dont take your luv to town, oh ruby i still need your company, oh ruby for god's sake turn around!!!" but she just left yeah shallow bastard she is i guess cause he was all. " It's hard to luv a man whose legs are bent and paralyzed" and she was just "pft whatever your legs arent great and have no purpose so im leaving you!!!" i dont liek her!!! but yeah tahts my story i guess so yeah...i need to find this song!!!
If you didn't know, this is song is a cover originally from Kenny Rogers.
wow, this isn't like anything I've ever heard by the killers- You can listen to this song @ hype.non-standard.com
I like it, but it has a very country twang to it. the intro is adorable, you gotta
I completely agree with rayne bhow. I had to listen really close because I couldn't believe that Brandon would do a cover of a country song. Although I was skeptical, it actually is him and the intro is super adorable!
I've loved the Killers for so long. I've loved Kenny Rogers for so long. Holy shit! I'm gunna cry...
for god's sake turn around
quite sexy damn im not ruby but if someone sang that to me id turn around!
about the song, takes a sinsiter turn towards the end, with the murderous thoughts...which all of us have though of at least about someone who they hate so much . he hates her so much because he still loves her and he doesnt want her to be wiht anyone... brandon loves twists in tales etc
so this Ruby chick...
does 'don't take your love to town' mean don't go in to town with him, her 'love[r]', or don't leave me [speaker] and go live in the city?
and i'm gonna agree that this is about a war vet. the 'patriotic chore', the paralyzed legs, it all adds up.
the part where he says, 'if i could move/ i'd get my gun/ and put her in the ground' after she leaves, it seems like if he wasn't paralyzed and stuck where he was he'd shoot and kill her...
anyone got ideas why?