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"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis about a paralyzed veteran who lies helplessly as his wife "paints up" to go out for the evening without him; he believes that she is going in search of a lover. As he hears the door slam behind her, he claims that he would murder her if he could move to get his gun, and pleads for her to reconsider. A line in the song about a "crazy Asian war" and the time of the song's release led to the assumption that the song was about a veteran of the Vietnam War, though this was never stated in the lyrics. However, Tillis stated that the song was about a veteran of World War II.
In 1977, Rogers was performing solo after the First Edition disbanded in early 1976. He made re-recordings of this and a number of other First Edition hits for his greatest hits package Ten Years of Gold. It was later issued in the UK as The Kenny Rogers Singles Album.Ten Years of Gold topped the US country charts under that title, and it was just as successful in the United Kingdom.
Geraldine Stevens released an answer song entitled "Billy, I've Got to Go to Town" in 1969. She had previously recorded successfully under the name Dodie Stevens. It is sung to the same melody with an arrangement quite similar to the First Edition version. "Billy" peaked at number 117 pop, number 57 country. It reached number 83 in Canada. In Stevens's song, Ruby affirms her love for her disabled husband. She pleads in turn for her man to have faith in her fidelity and her commitment to him even in his paralyzed condition.
In 1972, Bobby Womack released the album Understanding, which included the song "Ruby Dean." The lyrics and melody are similar to "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" but the story is told from the perspective of Ruby's son. The son urges his mother to respect his father and to stop seeing other men.
Video
A "social commentary" video consisting solely of a camera panning back and forth in a bedroom while the First Edition recording of the song played was shown at the end of a Huntley-Brinkley Report during 1969. Chet Huntley set up the video by linking it to the controversial Vietnam War and the sacrifices made by U.S. servicemen and their families. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley paused after the video and then signed off in their usual fashion.
References
^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 115. ISBN978-0-89820-177-2.
Cover of the 1969 single