“Maybe Minneapolis guitarist Paul Metsa read ‘em wrong, but he thought the facial expressions of the police officers in his audience went from sunny to sullen in about eight bars. Metsa, with his partner, Emanuel Kiriakou, performed at Farm Aid in Irving, Texas, a couple of weeks ago. It was the largest crowd yet to hear his song “Jack Ruby.” Metsa says “It’s my take on the JFK conspiracy thing: a scathing indictment of the Dallas cops, CIA, Secret Service, LBJ.” Police posted near the stage seemed to wince at every word.”
JACK RUBY
Chorus:
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby in a Cavanagh hat,
whoever taught you to shoot a pistol like that
Oh, you snuck in the basement
and you stood in the back,
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby in a Cavanagh hat
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were fifteen years old
on the south side of Chicago you looked up to Capone,
stole girls lunch money beat boys on their way home
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were fifteen years old
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were twenty-one,
you traded brass knuckles for a caliber gun,
in the Sherman hotel bootleg whiskey did run
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were twenty-one
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were thirty-five,
set up shop in Dallas had nothing to hide,
a nightclub with hookers and cops side by side
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were thirty-five
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were forty-nine,
at the Carousel Club you kept the judges in line,
J. Edgar Hoover said there’s no organized crime
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were forty-nine
Chorus
Did the kingfish in New Orleans give you the key,
the numbers to contact the men you should see,
a confederate cloak of conspiracy,
with an eye towards November 1963
When the motorcade turned on Houston and Elm,
into the crossfire where Camelot fell
Were the shots from the window or 6 th floor window well?
In Dealey Plaza more than three empty shells
Was Lee Harvey Oswald the only one?
What of those in the bushes who started to run
With secret service credentials and government guns,
they’d answer no questions for what they had done
Oswald was set up so he did say
before he appeared in the basement driveway
On live television Ruby blew his soul away,
God speed the witness with something to say
(Repeat Chorus)
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby when you were sixty-four,
told Dorothy Kilgallen you’d even the score,
from your jail cell gave names and numbers and more,
in forty eight hours she lay dead on the floor
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby come back from the grave,
tell us for real whose lives you did save
And the powers behind the deals that were made,
how a Presidents murder became your stock and trade
For those who are guilty are alive to this day,
got their visas in D.C. and got on their way,
others laid low until election day,
a day of high treason and a quick getaway
Did the Warren Commission mean what they say?
Did the mob or oil money get in the way?
Did the shadow of Cuba darken the day?
In Dallas County the land of LBJ
In Dallas County the land of LBJ
(Repeat Chorus)
Words and Music By Paul Metsa
Paul Metsa Music – BMI ©®
Paul Metsa Re-Releases "Jack Ruby" for 60th Anniversary of JFK Assassination
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Support Paul’s songwriting and musical output!
8-time Minnesota Music Award winning songwriter, musician, author, radio host and cultural historian Paul Metsa re-releases his song "Jack Ruby" in conjunction with the 60th Anniversary of the JFK assassination. He is also releasing the video of Jack Ruby in conjunction with producer John McCally.
Debuted live at Farm Aid V in Dallas in 1993, the song appeared on Metsa's Whistling Past the Graveyard record from 1993. The record was produced by and features Bucky Baxter (Steve Earle, Bob Dylan) on pedal steel and long-time E Street member Garry Tallent on bass guitar.
"I watched Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on television and that tragic weekend has haunted me for years," Metsa says. "I never bought into the Warren Commission 'single bullet theory,' and this was my response to that."
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby in a Cavanagh hat,
whoever taught you to shoot a pistol like that
Oh, you snuck in the basement and you stood in the back,
Jack Ruby, Jack Ruby in a Cavanagh hat (sample lyric)
Did the Warren Commission mean what they say?
Did the mob or oil money get in the way?
Did the shadow of Cuba darken the day?
In Dallas County the land of LBJ
In Dallas County the land of LBJ
(Complete lyrics below.)
To contact Paul directly: paul@paulmetsa.com or 612-203-2526
About Paul Metsa
Referred to as "the other great folksinger from Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range" (Huffington Post), Paul Metsa grew up in Virginia, MN 22 miles east of Bob Dylan's hometown of Hibbing. In his 40 year career, Paul has won 8 MN Music Awards, recorded 12 critically acclaimed recording projects, played over 5,000 professional gigs as well as being a featured performer at some of the biggest festivals and political events like Farm Aid V, the Tribute to Woody Guthrie at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Million Mom March in Washington, DC and the Folk City 60th Reunion at the Iridium in NYC in January of 2020 along with Carolyn Hester, Rob Stoner, Willie Nile and others.
In addition to being a noted musician and songwriter, Metsa is an acclaimed author. "Welding together the wisdom of William Blake and the deep sentiment of Frank Capra" (Duluth Reader), his book Alphabet Jazz: Poetry, Prose, Stories and Songs was published by Palmetto and features poetry, prose, stories and songs from 1984 to 2022. Metsa's 2011 autobiography Blue Guitar Highway (University of Minnesota Press) was recently inducted into the Minnesota Blues Society Hall of Fame and will be rereleased in paperback in the spring of 2023. And, he just released his new book Blood in the Tracks (The Minnesota Musicians Behind Dylan's Masterpiece), co-written with author Rick Shefchik and published by the University of Minnesota Press. In conjunction with that book, he was recently invited to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma to take part in a discussion of the book, along with a performance of his original music. More about his books, music and radio show at www.paulmetsa.com.