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