Ruby and Carlos

[Verse 1]
Ruby said "You're gettin' us in a world of hurt
"Down below the Mason-Dumb Ass 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 must"

[Verse 2]
Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night
Ruby's standin' just outside the front porch light
Chain-smokin' Camel straights
The sky off to the East got grey
And he rolled off in a cloud of dust

[Verse 3]
The grey colt nickered at the gate
She said "You're right, it's gettin' late
"You and me got work to do
"We can't be burnin' daylight too"
She took down the long lead rope
And stayed off that slippery slope

[Verse 4]
The aspen trees were turnin' gold up-top
The talk was buzzin' 'round the beauty shop
"Wasn't he barely half her age?
"Well that's just how they do nowadays
"We should all've been so lucky"

[Verse 5]
By spring she'd had the run of the freeborn men
Ruby turned fifty in a sheep camp tent
Her body still could rock all night
But her heart was closed and locked up tight
Potato fields all muddy and brown
The gossip long since quieted down
After one more Coggins test
Pourin' coffee for the county vet

[Verse 6]
Pictures on the ice box door
Of Carlos in the first Gulf War
Black-eyed, brown and youthful face
Smilin' back from a Saudi base
Then Carlos on the big bay mare
Heavier now and longer-haired
Lookin' past the saddle shed
From way on back inside his head

[Verse 7]
The old vet said "One day Rube
"That colt'll break an egg in you
"Now and then one comes along
"You just can't ride," and he went on home

[Verse 8]
The storm door didn't catch
It blew back hard as she struck a match
But she cupped it just in time
Then she sent that ash tray flyin'

[Chorus]
Holdin' back the flood
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 a hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but you

[Verse 9]
Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through
He rode the tour bus while the singer flew
Managed out of Music Row
Carlos never saw the studio
Session guys had that all sewn-up

[Verse 10]
He looks out the window and it starts to sleet
Layin' on a friend's couch on Nevada Street
Lately he's been stayin' high
Sick all winter and they don't know why
They don't know why or they just won't say
They don't talk much down at the VA

[Verse 11]
And Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes
What thoughts can get out past the wine
He feels her fingers on his brow
And right then he misses how
She looked in that grey mornin' light
She never shaved like they all do now
He sees it all behind his eyes
And his hands go searchin' but they come up dry
And halfway in that wakin' dream
Carlos lets the land line ring

[Verse 12]
He'd never have guessed it was Ruby callin
A pin in her hip from the grey colt fallin'
Figure-eights in a lazy lope
Stumbled on that slippery slope

[Chorus]
Holdin' back the flood
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 a hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but you