"Ruby" is the 1952 theme song for the film Ruby Gentry starring Jennifer Jones, written by Mitchell Parish and Heinz Roemheld.
There were six chartered versions of the song in 1953.[1]. The theme enjoyed much popularity in orchestral recordings by Les Baxter, with harmonica solo by Danny Welton.[2], Victor Young And His Singing Strings with George Fields on harmonica (Columbia DO-70040, Australia), Richard Hayman And His Orchestra with Richard Hayman on harmonica, and Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats. It has subsequently become a jazz and pop standard, both as an instrumental and with lyrics by Mitchell Parish, recorded by such artists as Ray Charles and Neil Diamond, Les Welch & His Orchestra, with vocals by Richard Gray (Festival-Manhattan FM75, a shellac 78 in Australia), and Vic Damone, on his 1962 Capitol album The Lively Ones (Capitol T1748).
Notable recordings
Richard Hayman and His Orchestra. This reached No. 3 in the Billboard charts in 1953.[3]
Les Baxter and His Orchestra (harmonica solo by Danny Welton) had a hit with the song in 1953, peaking in the No. 7 position.[4]
Victor Young and His Singing Strings. Reached number 20 in the charts in 1953.[6]
Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, reaching number 27 in the charts in 1953.[7]
Les Brown and His Band of Renown - briefly charted in 1953 at number 29.[8]
Ray Charles - reached No. 28 in the Billboard charts in 1960.[9]
Adam Wade accompanied by George Paxton & His Orchestra with The Bel-Aire Singers. This directly competed against the Ray Charles version and reached No. 58 in the charts in 1960.[10][11] Wade's B-side was "Too Far" written by Pat Lambert and Bob Haymes.