James McMurtry - Ruby and CarlosLyrics

Ruby said you getting a sin of world of hurt Down below the mason dumb ass lined the food gets worse I can't go back to Tennessee That Nascar country's not for me Go on if you think you must Carlos packed his drums up in the darken night Ruby standing just outside the front porch light Chain smoking camel straights The sky off to the east got grey And he rolled off in a cloud of dust In a grey coat nicard at the gate, she said, "You're right it's getting late You and me got work to do We can't be burning day light too She took down the long laid rope And stayed off that slippery slope Now Aspen trees were turning gold up top The talk was buzzing round the beauty shop Wasn't he barely half her age Well that's how they do nowadays We should have all been so lucky By spring she had the run of the free born men Ruby turned 50 in a sheep camp tent Her body still could rock all night But her heart was closed and locked up tight But Teddy feels all muddy and brown The gossip long such quieted down After one more Cogans test Pouring coffee for the county vet Pictures on the ice box door Carlos in the first gulf war Black eyed brown and youthful face Smiling back from a Saudi base Then Carlos on the big bay mere Heavier now and longer haired Looking past the saddle shed From way back on inside his head And the whole vet said one day Rub that cold will break an egg in you Now and then one comes along You just can't write and he went on home And the storm bird didn't catch And blew back hard as she struck a match But she cupped it just in time And she sent that ashtray flying You holding back the flood It just don't do no good You can't unclench your teeth To howl the way you should So you curl your lips around The taste of tears and the hallow sound And no one owns but you No one owns but you Carlos took the road gig And he saw it through He rode the tour bus While the singer flew Managed out a music road, Carlos never saw the studio The session guys had that all sewn up He looked out the window And it starts to sleet Laying on a friends couch on Nevada street Lately he's been staying high Sick all winter and don't know why They Don't know why or won't say They don't talk much down on the V.A And Ruby's in his thoughts some times What thoughts can get out past the wine He feels his fingers on his brow And right then he misses how How she looked in that grey morning light She never shaved like they all do now He sees it all behind his eyes And his hands go searching but they come out dry Half way in that waken dream Carlos let's the land line ring He'd never guess it was Ruby calling A pen in her hip from the grey coat falling Figure eights and a lazy loop Stumbled on that lazy slope Holding back the flood It just don't do no good You can't unclench your teeth To howl the way you should So you curl your lips around The taste of tears and the hallow sound And no one owns but you No one owns but you