Ruby (Kaiser Chiefs song)

"Ruby" is a song by English indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs. It was released in the United States on 29 January 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 5 February as the lead single from their second studio album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007). It became the band's first British number-one single on 25 February 2007 and ended 2007 as the year's 10th-biggest-selling single in the UK, with total sales of 313,765. As of September 2016, it has sold over 600,000 copies in the UK as stated by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In the US, it charted at number seven the Billboard Triple A chart, becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the US. "Ruby" was voted number 13 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2007, Australia's largest annual music poll.

A video single of the song was released in the US at Best Buy stores on 13 March 2007, two weeks before the album was released there, and featured a live version of "Everything Is Average Nowadays" and the B-side "Admire You" (released on the UK 7-inch version).

Content

Speaking about the song lead singer Ricky Wilson said that Ruby "is super cool, totally unapproachable" and that "there was a girl like that at school". Guitarist Andrew White said, "[I]t's not really about anyone" and "if you know someone called Ruby, it's about them". In a 2022 TikTok video, former drummer and the song's backing vocalist and co-writer Nick Hodgson revealed that the song was about his family pet, a black Labrador named Ruby. He also revealed that the song was originally written on a piano.

Music video

The promo for "Ruby" was directed by Swedish production company Stylewar, who also produced the 2005 video for "I Predict a Riot" and later the video for its follow-up "Everything Is Average Nowadays", and features the band performing in a desert landscape whilst a CGI metropolis-like miniature city builds around them. The video was scheduled to be shown on Channel 4 at 11:35 p.m. on 15 January 2007 but was pulled from the schedules for unknown reasons. The video finally premiered on the official Kaiser Chiefs website four days later.

Track listings

• UK 7-inch ruby-red vinyl single

A. "Ruby"

B. "Admire You"

• UK and Irish CD single; digital download

1. "Ruby" – 3:24
2. "From the Neck Down" – 2:29

• Best Buy video single

1. "Everything Is Average Nowadays" (live)
2. "Admire You"
3. "Ruby" (video)

• European CD single

1. "Ruby"
2. "From the Neck Down"
3. "Admire You"
4. "Ruby" (video)

Charts

Certifications

Release history

Notable cover versions

As part of the BBC Electric Proms the song was performed by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. On 19 January 2011, Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese played a cover version of the song at the nationwide TV-show Parla con Me, with lyrics changed into a satiric reference to the Rubygate sex scandal, which then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had just been involved with.