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