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