G          Cadd9            F#                    G  
Ruby said "You're gettin' us in a world of hurt,  
            Cadd9            F#
Down below the Mason-Dumbass line the food gets worse.
Cadd9              F#             G                 
I can't go back to Tennessee that NASCAR country's 
Cadd9       Em                  F#
not for me, Go on...if you think you must."

G                Cadd9            F#        x2
Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night, Ruby's
 standing just outside the front porch light
Cadd9         F#               G                     
Chain-smoking Camel straights the sky off to the east
  Cadd9    Em                     F#
 got gray, And he rolled off in a cloud of dust.

                 Cadd9.          F#       G        
And the gray colt knickered at the gate,  She said 
                      Cadd9
"You're right it's getting late.
Em                                  F#
You and me got work to do, we can't be burning daylight
 too."
   Cadd9.       F#                G                   
She took down the long lead rope, and stayed off that 
       Cadd9        Em    F#
slippery slope

G             Cadd9          F#           x2
The aspen trees were turning gold up top,  The talk was
 buzzin 'round the beauty shop
Cadd9.           F#                G                 
"Wasn't he barely half her age?,  Well that's just 
      Cadd9
how they do now days
Em                            F#
We should all had been so lucky."

G                  Cadd9             F#            x2
By spring she'd had the run of the free born men, Ruby 
turned 50 in a sheep camp tent
Cadd9.               F#             G                
Her body still could rock all night, but her heart 
            Cadd9
was closed and locked up tight
E                                   F#
Potato fields all muddy and brown, the gossip long 
since quieted down

Cadd9               F#            G                  
And after one more Coggins test, Pouring coffee for 
  Cadd9
the county vet
Em                              F#
Pictures on the ice box door, of Carlos in the first 
Gulf War
Cadd9                               F#
Black-eyed brown and youthful face, smiling back from a
 Saudi base

         Cadd9         F#            G              
And then Carlos on the big bay mare, Heavier now and
Cadd9
 longer hair
Em                            F#
Looking past the saddle shed, From way on back inside 
his head

Cadd9          F#                      G             
And the old vet said, "One day, Rube, that colt will 
        Cadd9
break an egg in you
Em                              F#
Now and then one comes along you just can't ride." And 
he went on home.

Cadd9                     F#             G           
And the storm door didn't catch, It blew back hard as
           Cadd9
 she struck a match
Em                                        F#
But she cupped it just in time??.  And she sent that 
ash tray

Cadd9       F#              G \ F# \ Em
And holding back the flood, Just don't do no good
Cadd9     F#                    G \ F# \ Em
You can't unclench your teeth, To howl the way you 
should
Cadd9            F#            G \ F# \ Em
So you curl your lips around, The taste, the tears, and
 the hollow sound
Cadd9                         F#
That no one owns but you, No one owns but you

     Cadd9   F#   Em   F#   Cadd9   F#

G               Cadd9         F#               x2
Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through, He rode
 the tour bus while the singer flew
Cadd9                    F#                          
Managed out of music row, Carlos never saw the 
  Em                              F#
studio, Session guys had that all sewn up.

G             Cadd9             F#             x2
He looks out the window and it starts to sleet, Laying 
on a friend's couch on Nevada Street
Cadd9            F#            G                     
Lately he's been staying high, Sick all winter and 
   Cadd9
they don't know why
 Em                                                   
They don't know why or they just won't say, They don't
F#
 talk much down at the V.A.

Cadd9                 F#              G              
And Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes, What thoughts 
          Cadd9
can get out past the wine
Em                                     F#
He feels her fingers on his brow, And right then he 
misses how
Cadd9                                    F#
She looked in that gray morning light, She never shaved
 like they all do now
Cadd9                                  F#
He sees it all behind his eyes, and his hands go 
searching but they come up dry

Cadd9                              F#
And half way in that wakin' dream, Carlos lets the land
 line ring
G                                        Cadd9
He never guessed it was Ruby calling, The pin in her 
hip from the gray colt falling
Em                           F#
Figure eight in a lazy lope, Stumbled on that slippery 
slope

Cadd9          F#           G \ F# \ Em
And holding back the flood, Just don't do no good
Cadd9          F#               G \ F# \ Em
You can't unclench your teeth, To howl the way you 
should
Cadd9          F#             G \ F# \ Em
So you curl your lips around, The taste, the tears, and
 the hollow sound
Cadd9                        F#
That no one owns but you, No one owns but you