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12 Mar 05 - 02:28 PM (#1433171) Subject: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean & Billy Lee From: Dave'sWife I've searched the net for this one on the net and the Mudcat and can find nothing. Not even a discussion thread! I believe this is a Seals & Croft song although a friend of mine swears she heard a version done by Cher (EEEK!) . It's from the mid-70s and is a vaguely Utopian love song. here's all I have Oh Ruby Jean Last night I dreamed I was running somehwere beyond the stars I called out to you You answered softly....something something... Oh Ruby Jean It doesn't seem like a long long time since we were born again into the dazzling light Uniting Black & White...something..something.. Then a chorus Then the other guy starts in with: Oh Billie Lee.... etc.etc I am making a Family songbook for a reunion and this was one my cousins used to love when we were kids. It has a nice melody for the verses. It's a tad New Agey but well intentioned. All about how the guys and the 2 women named are gonna build a new world together without war or prejudice and raise their kids to grow up to love. Thanks! |
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12 Mar 05 - 02:32 PM (#1433174) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean & Billy Lee From: GUEST this 'un? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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12 Mar 05 - 02:42 PM (#1433180) Subject: Lyr Add: RUBY JEAN AND BILLIE LEE (Seals & Crofts) From: Dave'sWife Yup! That's the one. many thanks. That's a COOL site, btw. I'm gonna go look around there so more. I looked through HUNDREDS of links and only came up with references to the title. Man, Guest..you are EFFICIENT! For the rest of the Mudcat..here they are: (Lyrics and music by James Seals & Dash Crofts, 1973) Oh Ruby Jean, last night I dreamed I was runnin' somewhere beyond the stars. I called out to you, and you answered softly. You are the children's eyes, and I'm the days gone by. Oh Ruby Jean, it doesn't seem like a long, long time, since we were born again. Into the dazzling light, uniting black and white. You are the rich brown earth, and I'm the flowers that grow. We'll have children (Lua), of the Kingdom (Joshua). They won't be torn by war, nor will they Kill or hate, or hestitate, to love. Justice. Oh Billie Lee, it's destiny that we meet again, here on this earthly plain. I'll see all the worlds with you, but you'll have to help me through. You are the straight and narrow path, and I'm the wayfayer. Oh Billie Lee, we shall be free in the years to come, to help build the Promised Land. We'll go where the day springs run, together and live as one. He is the object of our longing, and we're His creation. We'll have children (Lua), of the Kingdom (Joshua). They won't be torn by war, nor will they Kill or hate, or hestitate, to love. Justice. |
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12 Mar 05 - 11:41 PM (#1433462) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean & Billy Lee From: open mike Seals and Crofts are -or were- of the Bahai faith.. some of their songs reflect this.. and some of their lyrics are taken from the writings of the faith--such as Make me like a hollow reed.. |
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13 Mar 05 - 12:34 AM (#1433479) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean & Billy Lee From: Dave'sWife OpenMike..Imagine me imitating the late Johnny Carson as I say: I did not know that! Hmm. How very intersting. Since I posted this, I found some other links and discovered that Cher did indeed cover the song on her HALFBREED album but she changed the Lyric from Oh Ruby Jean - to - Oh Chas-ti-ty ...She retitled the song 'Chastity Sun' and she appears to have gotten a Co-writer credit and royalties for that superficial change. It's kind of odd to imagine such a sweet and hopeful song about racial harmony on the same record as the despicable 'Half-breed', but there you are. Sonny Bono never let the Utopian theme of one song stand in the way of choosing a single for an album that had a catchy tune and massively offensive lyrics. 'Chastity Sun' is the last song on the Album with 'Half-Breed' beginning the album. Perhaps it was a High-Concept album and we all failed tyo see that way back when, with it showing a progression from hate to love. Who knows? I think I'll look at some of their other lyrics now. many thanks! |
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13 Mar 05 - 08:06 PM (#1433973) Subject: Lyr Add: EAST OF THE GINGER TREES (Seals & Crofts) From: Dave'sWife Here are a couple more of their songs with more direct references to Bahai: EAST OF THE GINGER TREES (Lyrics by James Seals; music by James Seals & Dash Crofts, 1971) Go east of your dream and farm. Let peace and silence spin your yarn. What harm can befall thee in yon wilderness of clove? Go on east of ginger trees. Go soft and silent like the breeze. With ease be off and wander in yon wilderness of clove. Go on past the goldenrods, where fools and angels lose their odds. And gods of our ancestors did immerse themselves in clove. Go on toward the crimson shore, beyond this life of metaphors. Where doors of understanding's house decorates he them with clove. [From Baha'i scripture:] "Be lions roaring in the forests of knowledge, Whales swimming in the oceans of life." Prepare to meet Baha'u'lla'h in the Garden of Clove. SEALS & CROFTS lyrics - "A Tribute To Abdu'l-Baha" Tearfully I raise my hands, and supplicate unto thee in prayer. Close my eyes and you're there again. It's not the end. You are with me always. Abdu'l-Baha, your footsteps are oh so hard to follow. For a broken-winged bird whose flight is very slow, such a long, long way to go. Hopefully, I turn my face to Thee, and ask forgiveness. All my life I've been blind. Now I see. Mankind is one, all religions agree. Abdu'l-Baha, the lessons of your life are here to follow. Now this broken-winged bird, whose flight is very slow. Has a way to go - home. Interesting stuff. |
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10 Feb 11 - 04:36 PM (#3092716) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean and Billie Lee (Seals & Crofts) From: GUEST,Al Catlos If you are from this period of time, this song can bring tears to the eyes. Powerful, beautiful, and yes, Utopian. |
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10 Feb 11 - 06:18 PM (#3092789) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean and Billie Lee (Seals & Crofts) From: wordfella Ruby Jean and Billie Lee were S&C's wives... |
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17 Jun 22 - 09:12 PM (#4144699) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ruby Jean and Billie Lee (Seals & Crofts) From: keberoxu If you know your Seals & Crofts fan info about their careers, then you know of someone who is not named in this song. She is Marcia Day, who died a few years back (Jim Seals only died this month, in 2022). Marcia Day was a music agent, an enthusiastic adherent to the Baha'i cause, and the mother of Billie Lee Day along with four other daughters. Marcia sort of swept Seals & Crofts up off the sidewalk when the two of them were going through a starving-musician stage. She became their manager, staying with them through to their eventual success. And she is the reason that Seals & Crofts became Baha'is. Billie Lee Day and Dash Crofts had two daughters, first Lua (referenced in the song), then Amelia. I don't know under what conditions the marriage ended. The two daughters are grown with children of their own now, and they both sing. Dash Crofts has remarried in the last twenty years or less. Which brings us to Jim "Jimmy" Seals. Ruby Jean Anderson, of African-American origin, was an aspiring model, and Marcia Day took Ruby Jean under her wing. It was at Marcia's house that Jim Seals met Ruby Jean. He had a challenge when he asked his father for permission to enter into an interracial marriage, to which his father objected at first. Seals was in love, though, and in time his persuasion won over his father. The happy couple had two sons and a daughter, largely raised on a coffee plantation in Costa Rica. Now Ruby Jean, newly widowed, is a grandmother. Oh, before I forget: Lana Day and Donadell "Donnie" Day Feingold were also Marcia Day's daughters, have now in this post named three out of five daughters/sisters. And the marriages of these two latter sisters were also within the Seals & Crofts career orbit: engineer Joey Bogan married Lana Day, musician/producer Louie Sheldon married Donnie. These two professionals remained close to Seals & Crofts for years. |