Ruby and Carlos

Ruby said you getting us in a world of hurt
Down below the Mason-Dumbass line the food gets worse
I can't go back to Tennessee
That NASCAR country's not for me
Go on if you think you mustCarlos packed his drums up in the dark of 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 dustIn a grey colt nickered at the gate, she said,
"You're right it's getting late
You and me got work to do
We can't be burning daylight tooShe took down the long lead rope
And stayed off that slippery slope
Now Aspen trees were turning gold up top
The talk was buzzing round the beauty shopWasn't he barely half her age
Well that's just how they do nowadays
We should have all been so luckyBy 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 tightPotato fields all muddy and brown
The gossip long since quieted down
After one more Coggins test
Pouring coffee for the county vetPictures on the ice box door
Carlos in the first gulf war
Black eyed brown and youthful face
Smiling back from a Saudi baseThen Carlos on the big bay mare
Heavier now and longer haired
Looking past the saddle shed
From way on back inside his headAnd the ol' vet said one day Rub
that colt will break an egg in you
Now and then one comes along
You just can't ride and he went on homeAnd the storm door didn't catch
And blew back hard as she struck a match
But she cupped it just in time
And she sent that ashtray flyingAnd 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 hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but youCarlos took the road gig
And he saw it through
He rode the tour bus
While the singer flewManaged out of Music Row,
Carlos never saw the studio
The session guys had that all sewn upHe 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.AAnd Ruby's in his thoughts some times
What thoughts can get out past the wine
He feels her fingers on his brow
And right then he misses how
How she looked in that grey morning lightShe never shaved like they all do now
He sees it all behind his eyes
And his hands go searching but they come up dryHalf way in that waking dream
Carlos let's the land line ringHe'd never guess it was Ruby calling
A pin in her hip from the grey colt falling
Figure eights and a lazy loop
Stumbled on that slippery slopeHolding 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