Ten Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Vol. 5): Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (#2)

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Along with the songs that most people recognize as covers I'm looking at another set of songs that might surprise people to discover were also cover versions in their "hit" rendition. As I told Fredo yesterday, it did surprise me when I discovered who is credited as the original artist on today's song. And here it is. #2: Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town You "kids" might not know this, but "country crooner" Kenny Rogers was, once upon a time, the bass player in a rock and roll band. And that rock and roll band was far more country sounding than most of his "country" hits as a solo artist. Case in point: this song. Written by the great Mel Tillis, it's a "story song" (country music is notorious for that, as if it doesn't exist in rock ) about a paralyzed veteran who hears his woman getting ready to go out "lookin' for love" (in the words of a later country song). He's mad ("if I could move, I'd get my gun and put her in the ground"), but he's trapped. It was a huge hit for the First Edition (their second-biggest charted song, behind "Just Dropped In [To See What Condition My Condition Was In]"), and it's one of the defining songs of that era in country and pop. Of course, if it's in this series, it's a cover. While Johnny Darrell had a country hit with the song in 1967, that wasn't the first version, either. In 1966 Waylon Jennings did a very un-Waylon-like recording (compared to what you got used to in the 70s). Of course, one look of Waylon on that album cover and that's the Waylon you were used to seeing in the 70s, either! And it's a mile away from the famous version we got used to. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town Written by Mel Tillis Originally recorded by Waylon Jennings, 1966 Famously covered by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, 1969 You've painted up your lips: