Ruby Jewel Was Here
Allison Moorer

In Nineteen and Double-Aught

A harlot who was hot to trot

Gave a fine little bijoux to the world

With a blacksmith for a makeshift doc

In a cat house far from Camelot

Her goldmine brought to bear a baby girl


When the child screamed from life's first slap

The boss said, Kid, get used to that

You'll never meet a day that isn't cruel

And she wrapped her babe in a petticoat

Grabbed a bottle and made a toast

Here's to my gorgeous bastard, Ruby Jewel


And the man at the piano played a tune

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon

Except Ruby

(Ruby)

No, not Ruby

(Ruby)

Ruby Jewel


Reared among the guttersnipe

While her mama puffed a Chinese pipe

The salad days for Ruby didn't last

Forced to work and pay her dues

Inside that poor man's Moulin Rouge

A snot-nosed kid had to grow up fast


Night and day she toiled and sweat

While brothel patrons placed their bets

On who would be the first to break her in

Then one night the madam screams

Ruby, get to room thirteen

There's someone there who thinks you're quite a gem


And the man at the piano played a tune

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon

Except Ruby

(Ruby)

No, not Ruby

(Ruby)

Ruby Jewel


In done-up hair and a borrowed dress

She climbed the stairs scared to death

Said a prayer and tiptoed through the door

But on deaf ears her prayer fell

'Cause through a tear she stared at hell

Standing there in nothing but his drawers


She recognized the whiskered chin

Bloodshot eyes and foul-mouthed grin

He was the man who wore the silver star

She tried to turn around and run

But he pulled out his big six gun

And said, Hon, you won't get very far


And the man at the piano played a tune

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon

Except Ruby

(Ruby)

No, not Ruby

(Ruby)

Ruby Jewel


Ruby Jewel woke up in bed

A crimson pool between her legs

Naked as the day she was born

But lying there next to him

Made her wish she hadn't been

If this was all that living had in store


Making sure he was asleep

She quietly got to her feet

Found his gun and aimed it between his eyes

She kept it there til he came to

So he could stare down the barrel too

Pulled the trigger once and watched him die


And the man at the piano played a tune

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon

Except Ruby

(Ruby)

No, not Ruby

(Ruby)

Ruby Jewel


On a rainy night in nineteen twelve

Locked inside the town's new jail

Ruby carved a message in the stone

When morning came, hacks lead her out

In ankle chains right through the crowd

Who waited in the mud to watch the show


They walked her up the gallows steps

Put the rope around her neck

Dropped the trap as all the watchers cheered

But on the wall of a cell

In a tiny scrawl and misspelled

Were the words, 'Ruby Jewel was here'


And the man at the piano played a tune

And everybody sang and danced in the saloon

Except Ruby

(Ruby)

No, not Ruby

(Ruby)

Ruby Jewel


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Lyrics by Allison Moorer

  A Soft Place to Fall   Abalone Sky   Abalone Sky   Abalone Sky   Alabama Song   All Aboard   Baby Dreamer   Back of My Mind   Believe You Me   Best That I Can Do   Blood   Both Sides Now   Bring Me All Your Lovin'   Bully Jones   Call My Name   Can't Get There from Here   Cold Cold Earth   Cold in California   Cold, Cold Earth   Crows   Daddy Goodbye Blues   Daddy, Goodbye Blues   Dancing Barefoot   Day You Said Goodbye   Don't Cry No Tears   Down to Believing   Dying Breed   Easier to Forget   Easy In The Summertime   Fairweather   Feeling That Feeling Again   Getting Somewhere   Go, Leave   Going Down   Gonna Get It Wrong   Goodbye To The Ground   Hallelujah   Have You Ever Seen the Rain?   Hey Jezebel   How She Does It   I Ain't The One   I Found A Letter   I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl   I'll Break Before I Bend   I'm Doing Fine   I'm Looking For Blue Eyes   If I Were Stronger   Is Heaven Good Enough for You   Is Heaven Good Enough For You (2003)   Is It Worth It   It's Gonna Feel Good (When It Stops Hurting)   It's Gonna Feel Good (When It Stops Hurting)   It's Gonna Feel Good / When It Stops Hurting   It's Time I Tried   Just Another Fool   Let Go   Light of a Clear Blue Morning   Like It Used To Be   Like The Rain   Long Black Train   Mama Let the Wolf In   Mark My Word   Melancholy Polly   Mockingbird   Moonshiner   Moonshiner (cover)   No Next Time   No Place for a Heart   Once Upon A Time She Said   Orphan Train   Pardon Me   Picture   Revelator   Ring Of Fire   Send Down an Angel   Set You Free   She Knows Where She Goes   Should I Be Concerned   Soft Place To Fall   Sorrow (Don't Come Around)   Sorrow (Don't Come Around) (Acoustic)   Sorrow / Don't Come Around   Steal the Sun   Still This Side Of Gone   Take It So Hard   Tear Me Apart   Tell Me Baby   The Broken Girl   The Broken Girl   The Broken Girl   The Broken Girl (Acoustic)   The Hardest Part   The One That Got Away   The One That Got Away (Got Away with My Heart)   The Stars & I   The Stars & I (Mama's Song)   The Stars & I / Mama's Song   The Stars And I (Mama's Song)   Think It Over   Thunderstorm / Hurricane   Thunderstorm\/Hurricane   Tumbling Down   Up This High   When Will You Ever Come Down   When You Wake Up Feeling Bad   Where Is My Love   Where You Are   Wish I   Work to Do   Yessirree   You'll Never Know

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