of a crippled veteran was admirably daring at the height of America's involvement with the war in Vietnam. The song lyrics were originally meant to address the Korean War, albeit in such a vague way that it could have referred to Korea, Vietnam, or even the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The song was picked up by some of the more attuned disc jockeys, and there was suddenly great demand to release the final track recorded for, and included on, the First Edition '69 album. In order to release "Ruby" at the same time as the "But You Know I Love You" soundalike "Once Again She's All Alone", the group renamed themselves "Kenny Rogers and the First Edition". When "Ruby" became the hit, the name stuck. Terry later said that this made him feel like one of Gladys Knight's Pips. This, their third major hit single, like the previous two featured Kenny Rogers on lead, along with the band name change, these factors cemented Kenny's fate as a global household name. Prime period "Ruby" made them stars, and during the next two years, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition had five hits. A man Rogers at first took to be a rude fan first pitched "Reuben James" to Rogers at a golf match. The man, who turned out to be a song pitcher for American songwriter Alex Harvey, followed him around the greens singing the song until Rogers listened. Rogers loved the song's look at a black man raising a white boy and agreed to record it. "Reuben James" turned out to be another daring record; though not as big a hit as "Ruby", it made a big impact on the First Edition's now sizable fan base. "Reuben James" came out at the end of 1969, by which time Mike Settle had been gone for several months, in an effort to save his ultimately doomed marriage. During his absence he was replaced by Kin Vassy. Vassy's style was a little more edgy than Settle's, allowing the band to explore different areas. It was now that Kenny and Terry, by default, became the leaders of the band. Kenny was in charge of the records, and Terry would take control of their stage presentation. The group continued to record country, rock, and folk by fairly equal measures, blurring the lines among the genres. Along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis