***He and She-With Warren
Smith’s Rock and Roll Ruby In
Mind
A Sketch From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
…he
knew, knew deep in his bones, knew on the face of it too that he could not keep
her, keep her to himself, keep her settled down and so he accepted that she
would blow away like the wind on him sometime, that same wind would take her
away as the one on which they had proclaimed, or maybe better he had proclaimed
and she went along with, that their love was written on, and it was just a
matter of how long he could keep her. It was not that he was perceptive about
women and their needs, wants, desires, nothing like that, not women in any case,
girls really since he did not know anything at all about women who were older
than say twenty, twenty-one except relative women, mothers, aunts, grandmothers
and what was there to know about them to help him, help him with a wild side
woman they all placid and proper, or about anything like that. And even on the
girl thing he was filled with as much mystery and awe as with any real knowledge,
his knowledge like everybody else, every guy, in town acquired on the street,
in the boys’ sports locker rooms, and on the corner when he hung out with guys,
or did before she took up his time but a lot of that was just flat-out wrong,
half church-truth, half-just getting it wrong, about what made them tick, and
about how to hang onto them.
And
it was not like he could lay claim to as a wet-behind-the ears high school kid
trying to survive in the doldrums 1950s some inside knowledge about what was
going to happen when his generation, the generation which would post-war born be
called baby boomers and who would not fall into the false security, or at least
he did not think that then, that their from hunger parents craved, broke out of
the straitjacket but he just knew that she was like the wind and would get
caught up in everything that was breezing across the land. He knew in his
knotted stomach that what was happening in the cold war red scare night could
not be the end of things, the end of the world and that when the time came for
the break-out all hell would break loose. She would imbibe, joyfully imbibe the
“newer world” was the way she put it to him one night when she wanted to go to
a dance and he wanted to just hold hands or something at the movies (they went
to the dance and she danced like Fred Astaire going up the walls in some movie
they had seen), everything that was coming whether about ways of getting high
not just the illicit liquor but some drugs that were beginning to make their
way into the neighborhoods among the hipped; ways of dressing, especially ways
of dressing sexy without old prudes scolding or guys leering; ways of dancing,
dancing free from the old forms; and ways of hearing the music that always seemed
to exist in her head just below the surface of what drove her personality.
Him,
well, he was what she called when she was angry at him when he would not dance,
wanted to square parent hold hands, or got mad when she did dance with other
guys or he was smothering her with his forever plans (her take, not his) a
“square.” Jesus, a square and with his strict Jehovah upbringing and his “get
out of from hunger and get ahead dreams” maybe he was. He knew that he would
not be able to go with her when she broke out, knew that for sure. Knew from
that one time some guy at a dance at the Surf Ballroom down by the beach gave
them a couple of shots of rotgut Southern Comfort which she dug and on which he
just threw up, knew that other time in downtown Boston when some college guy
was giving her the once over and passed them a “joint” (marijuana for the
squares like him) and she got all high and flirty (and he did too except he
could not go with the flow of the thing); knew when she started wearing her
dresses shorter showing her well-turned legs and challenging guys to look; knew
when she got all esoteric in her dancing like she was of the she with the seven
veils; knew that when she began to dig electric blues and some helter-skelter
hipster jazz, that he would not be able to go with her. No question.
It
hadn’t started out that way, at least he did not see it like that at the
beginning, see that she was a wayward wind, see that she had the desire to deeply imbibe the new wave coming across the
continent. That wind born of the wild reckless feckless boys sunk knee-deep in
alienation and angst, of outlaw motorcycle bikers who played for real and
played rough, of surf city guys searching for perfect waves with golden-haired
girls waiting patiently on shore for that event, of hot rod Lincoln “chicken
run” guys with boffo girls sitting high-breasted wearing cashmere sweaters in
that coveted passenger seat turning the radio dial reaction against the staid
Great Depression and World War II parents’ generation search for the security
blanket in a hostile red scare Cold War world where they, the parents, just
wanted their Johnny coming home from the war music, big Cadillac, two car
garage with two cars and stardust memories.
You know what he meant, don’t you, the undefined but vital mood change
that started when Elvis and a bunch of other hungry guys [and a few women like
Wanda Jackson and Laverne Baker] ripped it up with a new sound, a new not your
parents’ tinny sound, but blessed, no, twice blessed rock and roll. And then
other guys, other be-bop guys who had been around but were just then getting
noticed called the beat, called the beat down to rise up and play themselves
true, no hassles man, no hassles. All under the umbrella of dropping that
dragged out, square, red scare cold war night thing the ancients had everybody
stirred up about. Yeah and all their old has-been crowd. A little later, in
Billy and Jenny time, the he and she here to introduce them but they could have
been any of ten thousand kids hooked on the visual bible of the new religion American Bandstand, standing on corners
looking be-bop beat, or throwing nickels and dimes at some Doc’s Drugstore jukebox
complete with soda fountain to abate hungers in order to hear the latest about
twenty times the music changed up again, and square was nowhere to be. Billy
sensed it, sensed before Jenny even but he with ten thousand worries in his
head blew it off, called it at first a passing fad then got real scared when
his Jenny got testy with him more often.
They
had met conventionally enough in senior year at old North Adamsville High, although
they had seen each other around for ages as most of the kids in town had been
at endless school assemblies, rallies, dances together but what of that in teen
life had, for as such things go, they had not paid particular attention to kids
they knew for ages, or kids that were not in their clique.. Had moreover grown
up together on the wrong side of the tracks and wore a few scars to prove it
although mostly they just acknowledged the slights from the Brahmins, noticed
the no nods, the no look of approval, their slightly under-cool cheap Bargain
Center dressing against the latest hip thing from Filene’s or Macy’s and didn’t
talk about it thinking it was uncool to talk about roots, about yesterday,
about anything but the moment, and Billy all bunched up about the future.
Something
clicked though in that senior year as they both had responded to each other’s
furtive glances in Miss Williams’ study hall, had furtively danced around each
other at Doc’s Drugstore where all the kids hung out after school to listen the
latest music, their music juke box, and had finally gone out on a double-date
(he without a car at the time and so they had doubled up with her girlfriend
Terry in her beau’s car, a “boss” Chevy since that beau was out of school and
working as a welder down at the shipyard) at the local drive-in theater where
she, sitting in the back seat with him, surprised him with her sexual advances.
Stuff
that Billy wasn’t all that familiar with but which he liked and which she knew
that he liked. He, at least, was embarrassed when Terry and Eddie kept telling
them to quiet down a little while Jenny was doing her thing on him. She on the
other hand just to show how wild she could be if provoked took that as a signal
to make him go crazier. Terry later told Jenny there would be
no more double-dates after she told her that Eddie had asked her to do what he
called “doing the Jenny” on him before he left her off at her house. Terry said
she did not know how to do that mouth thing and refused him flat when he said
he would show her how. Jenny told Billy later after she had taught Terry the
technique and Eddie coaxed her into doing it one afternoon after school she would
chide Terry with a little “so did you do the Terry” again Saturday night down at
the beach when they compared notes on their respective weekends before school
on Monday morning. Somehow that “do the Terry” got around school and when Terry
dumped Eddie guys would try to coax her into it. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That
is when Billy and Jenny would go back to double-dating with whatever new beau with
a car that Terry had.
Yeah,
Billy liked it, liked it like any guy would, especially since Jenny was one of
the prettiest girls in class and had a reputation for being kind of
“unapproachable.” (Billy later found out
it was not so much the stuck-up thing as that she had been dating a college guy
and at that time was strictly under his sway after they had a few sexual experiences
which had kind of loosened her up. Joe College eventually took off with some girl
from some college in Michigan once he was done with Jenny.) Yeah, he liked it
but also thought to himself that night and the several other nights Jenny and
he found themselves in some secluded spot on the beach (the Squaw Rock end not
the Seal Rock end where parents and young kids hung out) when she did her thing
to him, those times when she got all loud and screamy when he touched her where
had she picked up that knowledge of what made a guy moan (and a girl all
screamy). When he asked her about it later, not any of the nights when they
were alone down the beach but a couple of weeks later, she just said girls knew
stuff like that and she had learned it from her first boyfriend (that Joe
College) who was older. Said that older guys, older guys who had been out in
the world, guys who knew how to turn a woman on, and who expected to be turned
on showed girls like her what was what. He let it pass. So they were an “item” that last year of
school and many a Monday morning before school when the other guys were
speaking of so-called weekend conquests by the billion he just smiled a knowing
silent smile.
Then,
a couple, a few years out of high school, Billy working taking a few classes at
the local junior college at night, Jenny working a couple or three nights a
week as a high end restaurant waitress, the music at Doc’s jukebox changed, got
more charged, frankly, got more sassy and sexual far different from their
parents’ sappy sentimental stuff that didn’t get anybody’s heart rate up. And Jenny
changed, well maybe not so much changed as got caught up in the new
dispensation, the new moves. When they went on dates then it wasn’t to the
movies or to some restaurant but to Smiley’s Bar & Grille on the outskirts
of town where old Smiley had a hot new cover band, the Rocking Rockets, playing
all the latest big beat stuff from guys like Warren Smith with his Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby that she flipped out
on. Not that she, like Warren said, would dance on the tables and stuff like
that but that she would dance with lots of guys, would be flirty, tease flirty
right before his eyes. When he questioned her on it she just said “don’t be a square,
daddy” and refused to discuss it further. And then it began. Some nights when
he called her mother answered to say she was not home, had gone out with the
girls, or something like that. Yeah, he knew deep in his bones …
********
…he had changed, Billy had changed too much for her tastes,
changed into a “square” just like all the parents in town and all the kids who
didn’t want to have fun and just be like them, be like their parents and worry
like Billy’s parents’ Jehovah worried about the new devil’s music coming on the
scene to replace, square, square Pat Boone and those clowns. Billy, Jesus,
Billy worrying and just barely out of high school about some house, kids, dogs
and two cars. Funny though he never complained, not one word, when she did her
thing, her “doing the Jenny” thing they laughingly called it when they were in
that mood, with him down at the beach. Oh, he asked, Jehovah hypocrite asked
where she learned how to satisfy a man but he never asked her to stop but just
moaned like every other man. She had learned all about sex from a college guy
she had been dating before Billy when she was in high school but who had ditched
her for some college girl from Michigan. Had done a couple of sexy turn on one-night
stands with some other college guys before latching onto Billy who she suddenly
became attracted to senior year when they shared a study class together and she
kept taking furtive glances his way until they began talking to each other after
school at Doc’s Drugstore, the one place in town which had an up-to-date jukebox
and a soda fountain, and that was that.
He was fun at first, fun when she did her thing with him and
he got all soft and stuff and she could have gotten anything she wanted from him.
Then he started on his ten million plans for them. So she knew, knew sooner or
later she was not sure which, she would have to drop him, drop him for somebody
who was fun, who liked what she did and didn’t act the hypocrite about it. Hell,
in one of her fantasy moments maybe drop him for the first guy who wanted to
dance with her close and fast, maybe had some reefer or Scotch and didn’t ask
forever how she knew what she knew about sex and just enjoy it (and enjoy her).
The problem was that in square old North Adamsville that
someone who was fun and the rest had not passed her door, but she had hopes. In
the meantime she thought she would have to stick with old gloomy Gus as he
fretted his life away. As long as he
kept his mouth shut when she started
swaying when the juke-box played some hot, latest rock and roll tune or the
cover band at Smiley’s started her dancing to the beat on something like Warren
Smith’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby. Started
guys looking through Billy her way too, and licking their chops.
Funny, as she thought back to that time a little over a year
before when they had eyed each other in Miss Williams’ study hall that she was
then attracted to his easy manner, his sly boyish-ness which she thought she
could talk him out of with a little coaxing (he had made her laugh when after
they became an “item” he said that the eyeing had really been furtive
glances-he said funny things like that then). They had not spoken a word until
they had spent what seemed like a lifetime dancing around each other at Doc’s
Drugstore where he put in endless nickels and dimes in the juke-box and then
just sat there dreamy-eyed looking at her until she had said enough and went
over to him and stood right in front of him and dared him to ignore her with
her look. He had surrendered easily enough and they became an “item” after a
subsequent drive-in movie date where she had shown him a few things in the back
seat of her friend Terry’s boyfriend’s car. He liked her doing that stuff and
she knew he liked her doing that stuff although he was a very shy boy for the
first few times. So this was how they had spent their last year of school
together in some kind of bliss.
Things changed though, changed a couple of years later when
a new breeze came through the town, when Doc’s juke-box started to almost jump
off the walls what with the latest rock tunes coming one right after another.
But Billy did not catch on, wanted to stay mired in his parents’ music and so
the frets began-his about marriage and settling down, hers about having fun
rocking the night away. The worse times had been when they went to Smiley’s, the hot-spot bar on
the outside of town where there was plenty of booze and bop and guys who eyed
her, maybe not furtively shy like Billy
had but eyed her like they wanted to
have a good time, wanted to have fun rather mope around and be square. He would
just sit there and be mopey while she danced with a few guys, a couple of whom
she had given her telephone number to although they in the end had not worked
out. She began telling her mother sometimes that when Billy called to tell him
she was out and to tell him that she didn’t know when she would be back. Even when, like this night, she was just
sitting up in her room waiting for a new guy who had danced her off her feet
the night before who said he would definitely call and maybe, just maybe, want
to have fun …
***********
"Rock And Roll Ruby"
Well I took my Ruby jukin'
On the out-skirts of town
She took her high heels off
And rolled her stockings down
She put a quarter in the jukebox
To get a little beat
Everybody started watchin'
All the rhythm in her feet
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
Now Ruby started rockin' 'bout one o'clock
And when she started rockin'
She just couldn't stop
She rocked on the tables
And rolled on the floor
And Everybody yelled: "Ruby rock some more!"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
It was 'round about four
I thought she would stop
She looked at me and then
She looked at the clock
She said: "Wait a minute Daddy
Now don't get sour
All I want to do
Is rock a little bit more"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
One night my Ruby left me all alone
I tried to contact her on the telephone
I finally found her about twelve o'clock
She said: "Leave me alone Daddy
'cause your Ruby wants to rock"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
On the out-skirts of town
She took her high heels off
And rolled her stockings down
She put a quarter in the jukebox
To get a little beat
Everybody started watchin'
All the rhythm in her feet
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
Now Ruby started rockin' 'bout one o'clock
And when she started rockin'
She just couldn't stop
She rocked on the tables
And rolled on the floor
And Everybody yelled: "Ruby rock some more!"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
It was 'round about four
I thought she would stop
She looked at me and then
She looked at the clock
She said: "Wait a minute Daddy
Now don't get sour
All I want to do
Is rock a little bit more"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
One night my Ruby left me all alone
I tried to contact her on the telephone
I finally found her about twelve o'clock
She said: "Leave me alone Daddy
'cause your Ruby wants to rock"
She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
When Ruby starts a-rockin'
Boy it satisfies my soul
