Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town

About Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town

"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis about a paralyzed veteran of a "crazy Asian war" (given the time of its release, widely assumed—but never explicitly stated—to be the Vietnam War) who either lies helplessly in bed or sits helplessly in his wheelchair as his wife "paints [herself] up" to go out for the evening without him; he believes she is going in search of a lover, and as he hears the door slam behind her, he pleads for her to reconsider. The song was made famous by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition in 1969. "Ruby" was originally recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1966. Johnny Darrell scored a number nine country hit with it in 1967. more »