Verse
Gm F Gm
He was a shrimper out of San Leon bad language and bad teeth
Gm F Gm
He had an oyster shell exterior even rougher underneath
A# F Gm F
The deckhands called him captain the new comers called him stew
Gm F Gm
The old salts called him catfish by the way his whiskers grew
Gm F Gm
Tattoo on a sunburned arm said Ruby in a black heart
Gm F Gm
Sometimes he’d wake up sweating and yell that name out in the dark
A# F Gm F
She came down from Corpus Christi part woman part child
Gm F Gm
And the way she moved could take your breath and it drove the rednecks wild
[Chorus]
A# F
Beauty and pain are fleeting
Gm F
They get washed to the sea
Gm F Gm
Storms swell like Satan only God can wash you clean
[Verse 2]
Gm F Gm
Catfish could not help himself and Ruby was not free
Gm F Gm
He didn’t see her for what she was but what he wanted her to be
A# F Gm F
He never answered questions about the future or the past
Gm F Gm
Just another shot of whiskey saying nothing ever lasts
Gm F Gm
The warnings had come early and the morning looked like blood
Gm F Gm
The birds were wild and nervous like before the last big flood
A# F Gm F
Everybody stared to the sea it took their breath
Gm F Gm
Clouds grew dark and ominous looked like danger looked like death
[Chorus]
A# F
Beauty and pain are fleeting
Gm F
They get washed to the sea
Gm F Gm
Storms swell like Satan only God can wash you clean
[Verse 3]
Gm F Gm
Catfish started drinking like a hundred times before
Gm F Gm
You ain’t going to get me this time he said you dirty whore
A# F Gm F
He’d rode out every single storm that ever hit the coast
Gm F Gm
But the worst storm raged inside him and haunted like a ghost
Gm F Gm
They all started boarding up the windows nothing new
Gm F Gm
But this one felt different and the storm clouds sailed steel blue
A# F Gm F
I’m going to ride her out right here this boats my ball and chain
Gm F Gm
Damn storm named Ruby ain’t no bitch I can’t tame
[Chorus]
A# F
Beauty and pain are fleeting
Gm F
They get washed to the sea
Gm F Gm
Storms swell like Satan only God can wash you clean
[Verse 4]
Gm F Gm
By the next morning it looked like a bad dream
Gm F Gm
Somebody said that late that night they heard somebody scream
A# F Gm F
The tide receded slowly and revealed the sunken wreck
Gm F Gm
Bow lines still tied to the dock holes pounded through the deck
Gm F Gm
Down below what they found is still talked about today
Gm F Gm
Catfish sitting dead as life his skin all wet gray
A# F Gm F
And when they came to take him they sounded the alarm
Gm F Gm
The tattoo that said Ruby had all but vanished from his arm
[Outro]
A# F
Beauty and pain are fleeting
Gm F
They get washed to the sea
Gm F Gm
Storms swell like Satan only God washes you clean