C                                   F                  G7   Dm
1. You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair.
C                          F             G7
Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere?
    Dm                              G7                Dm
The shadows on the wall tell me the sun is going down.
   C F   C/E Dm tacet                   C
Oh Ruby,        don't take your love to town.

       Dm                              C
For it wasn't me that started that old crazy Asian war.
    Dm                          F         G7
But I was proud to go and do my patriotic chores.
    Dm                              G7               Dm
And yes it's true, that I'm not the man I used to be.
    C F   C/E Dm  tacet                  C
Oh, Ruby,         I still need some company.

        C                                 F            G7    Dm
2. It's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralized.
        C                                        F          G7
And the wants and the needs of a woman your age, Ruby, I realize.
       Dm                               G7                  Dm
But it won't be long I heard them say until I'm not around.
   C F   C/E Dm tacet                   C
Oh Ruby,        don't take your love to town.

         C                                  F             G7    Dm
3. She's leaving now cause I just heard the slamming of a door.
    C                                 F               G7
The way I know I've heard it slam one hundred times before.
       Dm                              G7                    Dm
And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground.
   C F   C/E Dm tacet                   C
Oh Ruby,        don't take your love to town.
   C F   C/E Dm tacet
Oh Ruby,        for God's sake turn around.