Ruby And Carlos-James Mcmurtry

[ti:Ruby And Carlos] [ar:James Mcmurtry] [al:Live In Europe] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Ruby And Carlos - James Mcmurtry [00:28.03]Ruby said you're gettin' us in a world of hurt [00:31.45] [00:32.68]Down below the mason dumbass line the food gets worse [00:37.12] [00:38.27]I can't go back to Tennessee [00:40.93]That nascar country's not for me [00:43.70] [00:45.17]Go on if you think you must [00:47.65] [00:50.90]Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night [00:54.29] [00:56.15]Ruby's standing just outside the front porch light [00:59.72] [01:01.13]Chain smoking Camel straights [01:03.58]The sky off to the east got gray [01:06.59] [01:07.56]And he rolled off in a cloud of dust [01:10.32] [01:12.00]And the gray colt knickered at the gate [01:14.72]She said you're right it's getting late [01:17.67]You and me got work to do [01:20.28]We can't be burning daylight too [01:22.89] [01:23.89]She took down the long lead rope [01:26.53]And stayed off that slippery slope [01:28.83] [01:36.53]The aspen trees were turning gold up top [01:39.60] [01:41.69]The talk was buzzin 'round the beauty shop [01:44.83] [01:46.42]Wasn't he barely half her age [01:49.06] [01:49.99]Well that's just how they do now days [01:52.78] [01:54.63]We should all had been so lucky [01:56.39] [01:59.90]By spring she'd had the run of the free born men [02:03.54] [02:05.16]Ruby turned 50 in a sheep camp tent [02:08.88] [02:09.90]Her body still could rock all night [02:12.48]But her heart was closed and locked up tight [02:15.44] [02:18.39]Potato fields all muddy and brown [02:20.73]The gossip long since quieted down [02:23.25] [02:26.38]And after one more Coggins test [02:28.69] [02:29.34]Pouring coffee for the county vet [02:31.44] [02:32.84]Pictures on the ice box door [02:35.38]Of Carlos in the first Gulf war [02:38.23]Black eyed brown and youthful face [02:40.86]Smiling back from a Saudi base [02:43.36] [02:46.03]And then Carlos on the big bay mare [02:49.09]Heavier now and longer hair [02:51.34] [02:53.32]Looking past the saddle she'd [02:55.44]From way on back inside his head [02:58.00] [03:01.24]And the old vet said one day Rube [03:03.27]That colt will break an egg in you [03:05.44] [03:07.98]Now and then one comes along [03:09.88]You just can't ride and he went on home [03:12.57] [03:13.14]And the storm door didn't catch [03:15.47]It blew back hard as she struck a match [03:18.06]But she cupped it just in time [03:20.53] [03:21.99]And she sent that ash tray flyin' [03:24.42] [03:28.58]And holding back the flood [03:30.37] [03:31.29]Just don't do no good [03:33.21] [03:33.94]You can't unclench your teeth [03:35.84] [03:36.46]To howl the way you should [03:39.14]So you curl your lips around [03:41.45]The taste the tears and the hollow sound [03:43.99]That no one owns but you [03:46.30] [03:47.12]No one owns but you [03:48.92] [04:08.06]Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through [04:11.21] [04:13.47]He rode the tour bus while the singer flew [04:16.85] [04:18.59]Managed out of music row [04:20.65]Carlos never saw the studio [04:22.92] [04:25.47]Session guys had that all sewn up [04:27.84] [04:30.99]He looks out the window and it starts to sleet [04:33.98] [04:36.21]Laying on a friend's couch on Nevada Street [04:39.40] [04:41.16]Lately he's been staying high [04:43.86]Sick all winter and they don't know why [04:46.90] [04:48.10]They don't know why or they just won't say [04:50.32]They don't talk much down at the V A [04:52.94] [04:56.35]And Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes [04:58.74]What thoughts can get out past the wine [05:01.07] [05:03.14]He feels her fingers on his brow [05:05.55] [05:06.10]And right then he misses how [05:07.95]She looked in that gray morning light [05:10.51]She never shaved like they all do now [05:13.85]He sees it all behind his eyes [05:16.07]And his hands go searching but they come up dry [05:18.91] [05:21.78]And half way in that wakin' dream [05:24.20] [05:24.72]Carlos lets the land line ring [05:27.49] [05:33.68]He never guessed it was Ruby calling [05:36.65]The pin in her hip from the gray colt falling [05:39.32] [05:41.18]Figure eight in a lazy lope [05:43.75]Stumbled on that slippery slope [05:45.89] [05:49.69]And holding back the flood [05:51.55] [05:52.25]Just don't do no good [05:54.54] [05:55.14]You can't unclench your teeth [05:57.57]To howl the way you should [06:00.24]So you curl your lips around [06:02.83]The taste the tears and the hollow sound [06:05.39]That no one owns but you [06:07.56] [06:08.46]No one owns but you