The song “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones
always intrigued me. The Rolling Stones were known for high-energy bluesy
songs. “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” were signature
hits, but “Ruby Tuesday,” a song about an enigmatic girl with a unique
philosophy of life, was slow and lyrical. You heard piano, bowed bass, and odd,
haunting recorder that almost sounded like a human voice (played by Brian
Jones). Those instruments, along with Charlie Watts’ drumming and Mick Jagger’s
vocal, made the song as mysterious as the focus of the song, the woman with the
odd name.
Many
years later, when I was teaching about social commentary in popular music, one
of the songs we examined in class was “Ruby Tuesday.” We talked about the
personality of the main character of the song and her philosophy of life. This
got me to thinking about what the projected character represented. What would
such a woman, if one met her in real life, be like.
Various
stories exist about the composition of the song. Keith Richards claims to have
written the music and lyrics (usually Jagger wrote the lyrics). Marianne
Faithful, however, said that Brian Jones came up with the original tune and
lyrics and Richards helped him complete the song. The inspiration for the number
was said to be Linda Keith, a groupie girl
Richards knew. I decide to take the idea into the realm of fiction.
The
story takes place in 1969. Belinda Palmer and Clinton Pierce meet at a pot
party which is busted by the police. They flee. Belinda helps Clinton get away.
After the danger of arrest has passed, they talk. She says she lives in a small
apartment and is a musician. Clinton is house-sitting for an uncle who owns a
lake-side condo that has a piano. He asks Belinda to come to his place. She
agrees. She ends up living with him there.
She
is enigmatic. This dialogue, early in the story, expresses as much:
“ … Do you work?”
“Sort of. I live
with guys. They pay me.”
“You’re a hooker?”
this came out of his mouth before he could stop it. He blushed. She did not
look offended, though he hoped she would smile to assure him of as much.
“I guess I could
be. I don’t like working regular jobs. Living with guys gives me time to do what
I liked to do.”
“Which is?”
“Music. I love to
play music.”
Over
the summer, their relationship develops. Belinda’s behavior, her reading
habits, her philosophy on how to live, her tastes in music, the pronouncements
she makes puzzle and delight Clinton. She challenges the things he has been
taught about responsibility, goals, and vision.
Clinton
works at a country club as a golf caddie. When he invites Belinda eat with him
at the restaurant, they encounter a man he knows just slightly, Raymond Miller,
who begins to berate Belinda. Their argument escalates. He slaps her. He and
Clinton get into a scuffle, though the staff at the country club and diners at
the café break it up quickly.
Miller
is wealthy and a longstanding member of the country club. The owner tells Clinton
he needs to take a few days off. Belinda, though, gets a lawyer and files a
lawsuit against Miller, who caught Belinda and his daughter smoking a joint
once and, like the father of the boy who commits suicide in Dead Poets Society, tries to assuage his
guilt for his failure to relate to his daughter by blaming Belinda for the heavy
drug use she engages in. Soon he learns he is out of job. Miller continues to
use his influence to harass Clinton. Not wanting the bad publicly, he settles
out of court with Belinda, paying her considerable amount of money. Clinton, though
is out of a job. He works as a waiter in a local restaurant. Even there, Miller
uses his clout in the city make Clinton’s life miserable.
Clinton’s
old girlfriend, Betsy, asks him how much he knows about Belinda. When he says
he doesn’t know a great deal, she chimes in: “She’s a drop-out. Did you know that? I mean, she graduated from high
school but she ran track in school and was in the dance troupe; music too and
she was good—sang in the choir and played piano for us sometimes. Then she just
quit all that and started doing weird stuff.”
He
remains loyal and begins to fall in love. But Belinda decides to use the money
she received in the settlement to go on and follow her dreams. Clinton tries to
dissuade her, but nothing works. Though she says she loves him, she goes her
way.
He
later hears the song by the Rolling Stones and wonders if she too heard it and
tried to live like the girl mentioned in the lyrics. He does not hear from her
again. When the internet comes on the scene, he tries to find her with a net
search, but to avail. Clinton marries Betsy, goes into business, accrues
wealth, has a family. Yet he still thinks of Belinda—especially when he hears
Good-bye. Ruby Tuesday.
Who
could hang a name on you,
When
you change with every new day?
Still,
I’m gonna miss you.
“The
Girl Who Was Like Ruby Tuesday” appeared in Wild
Violet. You can read it here.
I
am excited about the release of my newest novella, In the Court of the Sovereign King. Vaguely based on the mythic
construction in the old King Crimson song, “The Court of the Crimson King,” it
is a story of intrigue, struggle for power, and the eventual triumph of virtue
and of ethical discipline over rapacious power.
Get a copy here.
For
more titles, see my Writer's Page.
Merry
Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and happy reading.
