‘RUBY, DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN’ HITS 3 MILLION MARK

‘RUBY, DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN’ HITS 3 MILLION MARK

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) – Country singer Mel Tillis has reason to smile: His 1966 composition “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town)” has just passed the 3 million performance mark. Not bad for a song that Tillis says his ex-wife called “the worst song she ever heard.” Tillis says the song – about a paraplegic Vietnam vet whose wife cheats on him – was written in traffic in about 15 minutes. He says the morbid melody was a hard sell until Kenny Rogers’ 1970 recording soared to No. 2 in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings. Tillis admits he was afraid to sing the song in concert himself if disabled people were in the audience – until he realized they were the ones screaming for it the most.

Wed 06-13-01