The Rushed Album Filler “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”

First Edition Don't Take Your Love
On a tribute show in honor of Kenny Rogers, one of the members of the First Edition described how Kenny Rogers and the First Edition came to record “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” in 1969. It’s a story about how a classic recording came together through circumstances and time pressure.

“You Have 10 Minutes”

The band was in the studio and learned that they only had ten minutes left when the producer asked them if they had anything they could quickly record. The album needed one more song, so the producers just wanted a song to use as filler on the album.

Kenny Rogers replied that they knew a Mel Tillis song called “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” So the band played the song, and producers completed the recording with just a couple of takes. Rogers, who was in his early 30s, had a voice that captured an older man’s weariness at a frustrating relationship with his wife.

The completed song went on the album. And then it became a huge hit.

Themes in the Unusual Song

It is not surprising that the song became a hit because it is so unusual. The disturbing lyrics are sung by a disabled man fearful of his wife going to town for love. He pleads for her not to cheat on him while he is alive, reminding her he will be dead soon.

In addition to the sexual innuendo in the song, there is violence too, as the man’s injuries are from “that crazy Asian war.” And his begging and understanding turns to anger toward the end: “And if I could move I’d get my gun / And put her in the ground.” At the end, the wife is leaving and the singer prays for her to turn around.

In the hands of Kenny Rogers and the New Edition, there is something disturbing about the song. Outside of country music and hip-hop, you rarely hear similar dark themes in pop songs.

When listeners first heard the title of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” many of them might have sensed something familiar, recalling the 1958 Johnny Cash hit about a mother begging her son to avoid violence called “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town.” The new song took the violence of the Cash song and added sexual anguish, reflecting the openness of the 1960s for discussing such topics.

Although “Ruby” is a traditional country song, this recording was loved by young people too. Perhaps they connected with the young band, or perhaps they saw an anti-war sentiment underlying the tale.

Other Recordings of “Ruby”

Kenny Rogers and the First Edition were not the first to have a hit with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” Two years earlier in 1967, Johnny Darrell had a hit country recording of the song.

Darrell’s version is sad without being as disturbing as the Kenny Rogers version. The author of the song, Mel Tillis, performed the song too.

Other workable country versions include ones by rock and roll legend Carl Perkins, Bobby Bare, and Roger Miller. Jerry Reed and Dale Hawkins went for more rocking versions.

For you Star Trek fans, there is Leonard Nimoy’s version.

But the Nimoy version is not the oddest recording of the song. For the weirdest version, check out the one by actor Walter Brennan.

Jon Bon Jovi recorded a different song with a similar title, apparently acknowledging the “Ruby” song with his title, “Janie, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.”

For another modern interpretation, check out a live performance of “Ruby” by The Killers.  The band often perform the song and included it on their CD of rarities and B-sides, Sawdust.

What About the Other Side?

Finally, lost in the discussion of the song is the woman’s viewpoint. Geraldine Stevens, also known as Dodie Stevens, recorded an answer song in 1969.  In her song, she takes the woman’s point of view, using the same music with the title, “Billy, I’ve Got to Go to Town.”

In the “Billy” song, Ruby tells her side of the story, explaining that her husband is still her man but bemoaning his jealousy. She does not explain why she has to go to town, though: “You’ve given all you had to give and now it’s up to me . . . Billy for God’s sake trust in me.”

Is she going to work? Prostituting herself to get money for them to live? We do not get an answer in this answer song.

All of the different versions of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” have their merits. But none of those recordings quite capture the unusual and disturbing nature of the song or reflect the turbulent era in which it was recorded in the way that Kenny Rogers and the First Edition did in those ten minutes when they rushed to fill an album.

And that is the story behind the song.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “Star Trek Beyond” Tribute to Leonard Nimoy

    Star Trek Beyond

    The cast of the upcoming third movie in the Star Trek franchise reboot Star Trek Beyond created a short video tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in the original series and passed away February 27, 2015. In the new video, Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the new franchise, encourages fans to give to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of Nimoy’s favorite charities.

    Quinto also explains that if you give to a charitable campaign featuring nine charities selected by cast members and Nimoy’s widow Susan Nimoy, you can win a role in Star Trek Beyond, directed by Justin Lin. Go to the Omaze website or watch the video below for the Leonard Nimoy tribute and more information.

    Star Trek Beyond, which has been filming in Vancouver recently, hits theaters on July 8, 2016. The movie’s screenplay was written by Doug Jung and Simon Pegg, who plays Scottie.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Strange Coincidence With the Ending of “Wrath of Khan”

    Many commentators have noticed the parallels between Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Several parallels are intentional, but is one of the biggest similarities just a coincidence? Note that this post has spoilers for both Moby Dick and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

    Wrath of Khan The Wrath of Khan (“TWOK“) mirrors the overrding theme of vengeance from Moby Dick. Just as Ahab is driven by his desire for vengeance against the white whale, TWOK focuses on Khan’s obsessive quest for vengeance against Captain Kirk (William Shatner). The movie writers’ intent is reinforced with Herman Melville’s book appearing in one scene and Khan quoting or paraphrasing from Moby Dick at points (“to the last I grapple with thee; from Hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee”). Finally, the ending of TWOK is almost identical to the ending of Moby Dick. But what is interesting is that, despite all of the intentional similarities, it appears that this major similarity about the two endings is entirely coincidental.

    In the end of TWOK, after Spock dies, his body is sent off in a photon torpedo as his coffin. In one of the final scenes, we see that this “coffin” has landed on the planet where Genesis is bringing the planet back to life.

    The test version of the film, though, omitted the final coffin-on-the-rejuvinating-planet scene. Various sources, including Wikipedia, explain that Leonard Nimoy had initially agreed to reprise his role as Mr. Spock in TWOK only because his character would finally be killed. But, as the filming was coming to a close, Nimoy had enjoyed the making of the movie so much, he wanted to allow for Spock’s return if they so chose. So, the scene of Spock mind melding with Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) was added, but the initial cut of the movie still ended in a way that appeared to make Spock’s death final. Only after test audiences reacted poorly to seeing the icon’s death did producer Harve Bennett add the final scene showing Spock’s coffin on the rejuvenating planet with Nimoy’s voiceover of the traditional Star Trek series opening monologue.

    The director, Nicholas Myer objected to the changes but allowed them. According to his director’s commentary on the video, he believed it was cheating to change the finality of the death scene (and having no interest in a resurrection story, he declined an offer to direct Star Trek III: The Search for Spock). In the commentary, he explains that as the movie was being finalized, producers realized that they might want to continue the series. And so the movie has the ending we all know:

    Other sources confirm the story about the changes to the ending of TWOK. The book Star Trek and Sacred Ground, by Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, reports that the first versions of the film did not include the scenes with Spock’s coffin landing on the Genesis planet. (p. 155.) A 2010 Los Angeles Times article noted Nimoy’s response to seeing the coffin scene: ”I was caught by surprise by the ending…. I was sitting there watching it and the camera goes across some foliage, some mist — a little magical kind of look — and guess what, there’s the black tube … whoa, I think I’m going to get a call from Paramount.”

    So why is it interesting that the final scene was an afterthought and not planned from the start? Because so much of the rest of the movie echoes Moby Dick, and in the classic novel, a coffin plays an important role. Aboard the novel’s ship the Pequod, the character Queequeg at one point thought he was dying and had a coffin built for him. At the end of the novel, the obsessed Ahab is killed by his obsession just as the obsessed Khan is effectively killed by his obsession Kirk. Then, the book’s narrator Ishmael survives because after the Pequod is destroyed, he uses the coffin as a life buoy, just as Spock is left with a coffin after the Enterprise is almost destroyed. As Ishmael is adrift after the ship’s destruction, he describes his discovery of a “black bubble” in the ocean:

    “[T]he black bubble upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, and owing to its great buoyancy, rising with great force, the coffin like-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirge-like main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last.”

    [Update February 2015: The final coffin scene from the Gregory Peck movie does not seem to be on YouTube any longer, but below is a trailer for the movie.]

    When I first saw The Wrath of Khan in the movie theater, because of the Moby Dick references, I thought the director intended to invoke Moby Dick again at the end. Just as the classic novel ended with Ishmael surviving in a scene with a coffin, I thought the producers’ message with the final coffin scene was designed to evoke Ishmael’s survival, revealing that Spock would live again. While they did intend to imply Spock might live again, it seems it was a coincidence that the way they did it once again invoked Moby Dick.

    Were the similar endings a coincidence? What do you think? Leave a comment.

    Bonus Moby Dick References: There are a couple of other parallels between Moby Dick and Star Trek outside The Wrath of Khan. Captain Picard, i.e., Patrick Stewart, starred in a TV version of Moby Dick and like Khan he quoted the book in a Star Trek movie, Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

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    7 Things About “Star Trek: Into Darkness” (Short Review)

    Star Trek Into Darkness Here are seven spoiler-free things about Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).

    1. You already know whether or not you will enjoy Star Trek: Into Darkness. If you are a Star Trek fan or like action movies in space, you will see the movie no matter what I say. And you probably will not be disappointed. For a Star Trek fan like me, it is a very entertaining movie and the most fun I have had at the cinema in awhile.

    2. Director J.J. Abrams continues with our heroes in an alternate time-line from the 1960s series and the William Shatner movies. In this first sequel to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) reboot, where time does not need to be wasted on the set-up, we are starting to see the brilliance of having the freedom to change the events of the “past” while also connecting to the stories we know.

    3. While the first film took me awhile to adapt to the new actors in the classic roles, by now the actors fit well into their roles. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and others have become the characters we know. Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job as the bad guy too.

    4. There are several references to the old TV and movie series. I will leave it to you to decide whether the movie overdoes it. On one hand, one might conclude there was a little too much old and not enough new — while also wondering if this alternate universe storyline really makes much sense for the characters. But on the other hand, the connections did make for an entertaining and clever movie.

    5. As Slate has noted, the new film has a little something to say about the U.S. war on terrorism, making the movie relevant in the way the old series was. The Atlantic, however, finds the message is not so ambiguous. There is a lot to discuss on this point, which makes the movie even more memorable.

    6. While many speculated about the identity of the villain prior to the film’s release (and which I will not spoil here), I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of one of these (warning: clicking on the link will give you a minor spoiler).

    7. Conclusion? If you liked past Star Trek films, you should see Star Trek: Into Darkness. But I probably did not need to tell you that.



    What did you think of Star Trek: Into Darkness? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Two Spocks and an Audi

    Spock Nimoy Commercial

    This funny new Audi commercial features the new Star Trek Spock Zachary Quinto and the original Spock Leonard Nimoy as the two challenge each other in a race to the golf course. The ad, featuring the the Audi S7, includes several Star Trek references, of course. But there’s also a Hobbit reference as Nimoy belts out part of his classic recording, “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” Check it out.



    What is your favorite part of the Spock versus Spock commercial? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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