Ruby Tuesday

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter, if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows...She comes and goes
Good-bye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I'm gonna miss you

Don't question why she needs
to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only
way to be
She just can't be chained
to a life where nothing's gained
and nothing's lost
at such a cost

"There's no time to lose"
I heard her say
Catch your dreams before
they slip away
Dying all the time...
Lose your dreams and you
will lose your mind
in life unkind?

Good-bye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I'm gonna miss you...



- Released January 13, 1967

- According to Keith Richards in a 1971 Rolling Stone interview he wrote the song in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966 about a groupie he knew; he has also stated that it was about Linda Keith, his girlfriend in the mid-1960s.

- Written by Keith and Brian Jones in January 1967, "Ruby Tuesday" was Keith's swansong to Linda Keith. "It was probably written about Linda Keith not being there," Keith told MOJO magazine in 2003. "I dunno, she had pissed off somewhere. It was very mournful, very, very Ruby Tuesday, and it was a Tuesday." Linda was now one of Jimi Hendrix's more high-profile girlfriends. She was also a major catalyst to Jimi's career, after watching one of Jimi's shows in Manhattan, New York on June 23, 1966, she brought him back to England, where he was a smashing success. She even gave Jimi one of Keith's guitars with left-handed strings. But, Keith bore Hendrix no animosity.

- The relationship began to sour for the couple in the Spring of 1966, after Keith purchased his home, Redlands. "It was a very big turn-on," said Linda about Redlands, "but it was pretty near the end of our relationship and I don't have good memories of having good times at Redlands."

- A restaurant was started in the same name by Sandy Beall and four college buddies from the University of Tennessee who hatched the idea in 1971.

- Multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones plays recorder, and the double bass is played by both bassist Bill Wyman (pressing the strings against the fingerboard) and Keith Richards (bowing the strings). The piano is played by Jack Nitzsche.

- Ruby Tuesday is the title of an animated movie musical in the works that will be based on the music of the Rolling Stones.

- The Marvel Comics character Ruby Thursday is named after the song.

- Ruby Tuesday is also the name of an actress who acted in this 1968 film, She-Devils on Wheels. The film is about an all-female motorcycle gang, called 'The Maneaters' who hold motorcycle races, as well as terrorize the residents of a small Florida town, and clash off against an all-male rival gang of hot-riders.