Today’s classic song of the day is “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” It was a hit first on the country charts by Johnny Darrell and then later on the pop charts by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.
“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” was written by country legend Mel Tillis. It’s about a paralyzed war veteran agonizing over not being able to satisfy his young wife and losing her to another lover. Because of when it was released and the phrase “It wasn’t me that started that old crazy Asian war,” most listeners believed the song was about a Vietnam War vet. Tillis, however, denied this and said it was about a veteran of World War II. In his words:
“Ruby is a real life narrative about a soldier coming home from World War II in 1947 to Palm Beach County, Florida. The soldier brought along with him a pretty little English woman he called ‘Ruby,’ his war bride from England, one of the nurses that helped to bring him around to somewhat of a life. He had recurring problems from war wounds and was confined mostly to a wheelchair. He’d get drunk and accuse Ruby of everything under the sun. Having stood as much as she could, Ruby and the soldier eventually divorced, and she moved on.”
Tillis wrote the “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” in 1966 and the first recording was by Waylon Jennings on his 1967 album, Love of the Common People. Johnny Darrell released his single version in April 1967 and it went to #9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
Kenny Rogers and his group the First Edition released their version of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” in February of 1969. They’d had a previous hit with the psychedelic track “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In),” which hit #5 in 1967. (They’d have a further hit with “Something’s Burning” in 1970, before Mr. Rogers left for a somewhat successful solo career.)
The First Edition’s version of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 on the Cash Box Top 100, #6 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #39 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. It definitely has a country feel with the incessant train groove from the drums and the plucked acoustic guitars. The group apparently recorded the song in a single take during a session in June of 1968. If so, it was a pretty good take.
The song definitely hit a chord with audiences tired of and angry about the ongoing Vietnam War. It helped to personalize the plight faced by many veterans coming home to American changed young men.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, a young Mel Tillis singing “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” live on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967. That’s two years before Kenny Rogers did his version, and it’s informative.
