A Deep Teaching in the Song ‘Ruby Tuesday’ by the Rolling Stones

While lifting a modest number of kilos through the air in the gym, I listened to Spotify through my earphones.

An old favourite rock song came on – Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones. Composed in 1966 in Los Angeles by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song conveys a depth of lyrics, which caught my attention.

Line after line reveals insights about freedom from clinging, freedom from sameness, freedom from holding to an identify with no illusions about life. Freedom is the only way to be to actualise vision or we lose our mind – addictions, mundane living and consumerism.

It is a song a Buddha would sing. I am not sure whether Sir Mick and Keith wrote the song after a profound insight and whether the lyrics illuminated the minds of listeners and audiences at a concert.

THEMES OF RUBY TUESDAY

  • Non-clinging to the past
  • Non-duality (not caught up in opposites, sun and night)
  • Impermanence (comes and goes)
  • Non fixing someone with a name/label
  • She changes every day
  • Freedom – it’s the only way to be
  • She can’t be chained (no attachment/clinging)
  • Nothing gained, nothing lost (not caught up one way or the other, non-duality)
  • Person changes every day yet will still miss her
  • Know your dreams (vision) or lose your mind
  • Ain’t life unkind (suffering is around)
  • Will change with every new day.

Lyrics of Ruby Tuesday

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don’t matter if it’s gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I’m gonna miss you

Don’t question why she needs to be so free
She’ll tell you it’s the only way to be
She just can’t be chained
To a life where nothing’s gained
Or nothing’s lost, at such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I’m gonna miss you

“There’s no time to lose, ” I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind
Ain’t life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I’m gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I’m gonna miss you

Links to Song with Lyrics on YouTube

https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+rolling+stones+Ruby+tuesday&rlz=1C1GGRV_enDE751DE751&oq=youtube+rolling+stones+Ruby+tuesday&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512j0i22i30.11289j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

 

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