"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" | ||||
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Single by Johnny Darrell | ||||
from the album Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town | ||||
B-side | "The Little Things I Love" [1] | |||
Released | 1967 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:16 | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Songwriter(s) | Mel Tillis | |||
Producer(s) | Bob Montgomery [2] | |||
Johnny Darrell singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" on YouTube |
"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. [3]
"Ruby" was first recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1966. Johnny Darrell reached number nine on the country charts with the song in 1967, [1] and Kenny Rogers and the First Edition released it in 1969.
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" | ||||
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Single by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition | ||||
from the album Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town | ||||
B-side | "Girl Get Ahold Of Yourself" | |||
Released | 1969 | |||
Recorded | June 1968 [4] | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:57 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Songwriter(s) | Mel Tillis | |||
Producer(s) | Jimmy Bowen [5] | |||
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" on YouTube |
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition enjoyed success with the hits "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" and "But You Know I Love You," and Rogers wanted to take his group more into a country music direction in 1969. They recorded their version of the song in a single take in June 1968, with Kenny Rogers singing the lead. The record became an international hit for them in 1969, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart and staying in the top ten for 12 weeks. In the United States, it reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 39 on the country chart. [6]
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.
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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. [13] 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.
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. [14] [15]
Kenny Rogers was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
"Me and Bobby McGee" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller. Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster. A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released No. 1 single in U.S. chart history after "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. Gordon Lightfoot released a version that reached number 1 on the Canadian country charts in 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis released a version that was number 1 on the country charts in December 1971/January 1972 as the "B" side of "Would You Take Another Chance on Me". Billboard ranked Joplin's version as the No. 11 song for 1971.
Lonnie Melvin Tillis was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, with a long list of Top 10 hits.
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, until 1970 billed as the First Edition, were an American rock band. The band's style was difficult to singularly classify, as it incorporated elements of country, rock and psychedelic pop. Its stalwart members were Kenny Rogers, Mickey Jones and Terry Williams. The band formed in 1967, with folk musician Mike Settle and the operatically trained Thelma Camacho completing the lineup.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1965.
"But You Know I Love You" is a song written by Mike Settle, which was a 1969 pop hit for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, a group that included Settle and Kenny Rogers. The song also became a major country hit by Bill Anderson in 1969. In 1981, a cover version of "But You Know I Love You" by singer Dolly Parton topped the country singles charts.
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by American country music artist Kenny Chesney, released on September 26, 2000, on BNA Records. It features hits from his previous albums, as well as newly recorded tracks. Two of the new tracks — "I Lost It" and "Don't Happen Twice" — were issued as singles. Also released from this album was a re-recording of his 1994 single "The Tin Man". Greatest Hits has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over four million copies in the United States.
"Coward of the County" is a song written by Roger Bowling and Billy Edd Wheeler and recorded by American country music singer Kenny Rogers. The song was released in November 1979 as the second single from Rogers' multi-platinum album Kenny. It became a major crossover hit, topping the Billboard Country chart and reaching number three on the Hot 100 chart; it also topped the Cash Box singles chart and was a Top 10 hit in numerous other countries worldwide, topping the chart in Canada, the UK and Ireland, where it remained at number one for six consecutive weeks.
The Kenny Rogers Singles Album is the seventh studio album by Kenny Rogers.
The Kenny Rogers Story is a compilation album by country singer Kenny Rogers.
"She Believes in Me" is a song recorded by American country music singer Kenny Rogers. It was released in April 1979 as the second single from his 1978 album The Gambler. The song was written by American singer-songwriter Steve Gibb who first released his version as a 7" single in 1978. A version by T. G. Sheppard appears on his 1978 album Daylight, released a month before Rogers' album.
Greatest Hits is the second compilation album by American singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1980 and issued by Liberty Records. The album marks Rogers' first release after United Artists Group merged with Liberty. The album was certified 12× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 12 million copies in the US.
Johnny Darrell was an American country music artist. Darrell was born in Hopewell, Alabama but grew up in Marietta, Georgia. After a stint in the army, he moved to Nashville and began managing a Holiday Inn near Music Row, when he was discovered by Kelso Herstin, a producer working for United Artists, on the recommendation of Bobby Bare. In his recording career, Darrell established a trend of introducing "lyrically adventurous" songs that later became major hits for other artists.
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town is the fourth album by American rock band The First Edition. This was the first album to credit the group as Kenny Rogers & The First Edition. The title song reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. "Reuben James" became a top-30 hit in 1969 for The First Edition before also being recorded by Conway Twitty for his 1970 Hello Darlin' album.
"When Will I Be Loved" is a popular song written by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, who had a US top-ten hit with it in 1960. Linda Ronstadt covered the song in 1975, and her version was an even bigger hit in the US, peaking at No. 2. Vince Gill also covered it in 1994 on the soundtrack of the film 8 Seconds.
"Share Your Love with Me" is a song written by Alfred Braggs and Deadric Malone. It was originally recorded by blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland. Over the years, the song has been covered by various artists, most notably Aretha Franklin who won a Grammy Award for her 1969 rendition. Other artists who covered the song include The Band in 1973, Kenny Rogers in 1981, and most recently, Van Morrison in 2016.
"I Don't Need You" is a song written by Rick Christian, and was first recorded and released as a single in 1978 on Mercury Records, by Rick Christian himself at Shoe Productions, a recording studio/production company in Memphis, Tennessee, but it failed to chart.
"Daytime Friends" is a song written by Ben Peters and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in August 1977 as the lead single from the album of the same name. The song was Rogers' second number one country hit as a solo artist. The single stayed at number one for one week and spent a total of twelve weeks on the country chart.
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"Blaze of Glory" is a song written by Danny Morrison, Johnny Slate, and Larry Keith, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in November 1981 as the third single from the album Share Your Love. The song reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1982. The song peaked at number nine on the country chart.
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