Born in Texas, Jones first heard country music when he was seven, and was given a guitar at the age of nine. He married his first wife, Dorothy Bonvillion, in 1950, and was divorced in 1951. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was discharged in 1953. He married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954. In 1959, Jones recorded "White Lightning", written by J. P. Richardson, which launched his career as a singer. His second marriage ended in divorce in 1968; he married fellow country music singer Tammy Wynette a year later. Years of alcoholism compromised his health and led to his missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones". After his divorce from Wynette in 1975, Jones married his fourth wife, Nancy Sepulvado, in 1983 and became sober for good in 1999. Jones died in 2013, aged 81, from hypoxic respiratory failure.
George Jones has been called "The Rolls Royce Of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013. Johnny Cash once said, "When people ask me who my favorite country singer is, I say, 'You mean besides George Jones?'"
Jones tirelessly defended the integrity of country music, telling Billboard in 2006, "It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs." Jones also went out of his way to promote younger country singers that he felt were as passionate about the music as he was. "Everybody knows he's a great singer," Alan Jackson stated in 1995, "but what I like most about George is that when you meet him, he is like some old guy that works down at the gas station...even though he's a legend!"
Shortly after Jones' death, Andrew Mueller wrote about his influence in Uncut, "He was one of the finest interpretive singers who ever lifted a microphone...There cannot be a single country songwriter of the last 50-odd years who has not wondered what it might be like to hear their words sung by that voice." In an article for The Texas Monthly in 1994, Nick Tosches eloquently described the singer's vocal style: "While he and his idol, Hank Williams, have both affected generations with a plaintive veracity of voice that has set them apart, Jones has an additional gift—a voice of exceptional range, natural elegance, and lucent tone. Gliding toward high tenor, plunging toward deep bass, the magisterial portamento of his onward-coursing baritone emits white-hot sparks and torrents of blue, investing his poison love songs with a tragic gravity and inflaming his celebrations of the honky-tonk ethos with the hellfire of abandon." In the New Republic essay "Why George Jones ranks with Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday," David Hajdu writes:
"Jones had a handsome and strange voice. His singing was always partly about the appeal of the tones he produced, regardless of the meaning of the words. In this sense, Jones had something in common with singers of formal music and opera, though his means of vocal production were radically different from theirs. He sang from the back of his throat, rather than from deep in his diaphragm. He tightened his larynx to squeeze sound out. He clenched his jaw, instead of wriggling it free. He forced wind through his teeth, and the notes sounded weirdly beautiful."
David Cantwell recalled in 2013, "His approach to singing, he told me once, was to call up those memories and feelings of his own that most closely corresponded to those being felt by the character in whatever song he was performing. He was a kind of singing method actor, creating an illusion of the real." In the liner notes to Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country Rich Kienzle states, "Jones sings of people and stories that are achingly human. He can turn a ballad into a catharsis by wringing every possible emotion from it, making it a primal, strangled cry of anguish". In 1994, country music historian Colin Escott pronounced, "Contemporary country music is virtually founded on reverence for George Jones. Walk through a room of country singers and conduct a quick poll, George nearly always tops it." In the wake of Jones's death, Merle Haggard pronounced in Rolling Stone, "His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made." Emmylou Harris wrote, "when you hear George Jones sing, you are hearing a man who takes a song and makes it a work of art - always," a quote that appeared on the sleeve of Jones' 1976 album The Battle. In the documentary Same Ole Me, several country music stars offer similar thoughts. Randy Travis: "It sounds like he's lived every minute of every word that he sings and there's very few people who can do that"; Tom T. Hall: "It was always Jones who got the message across just right"; and Roy Acuff: "I'd give anything if I could sing like George Jones". In the same film, producer Billy Sherrill states, "All I did was change the instrumentation around him. I don't think he's changed at all."
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed George Jones among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Big Fool of the Year
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Every hopeless lovin' heart I know was there
We all sat around and told our own best story
Then they made me the big fool of the year.
Oh, they gave to me a little golden statue
Of the torch that I carried for you, dear
They said no one else could even come close to me
I'll put mine up beside
Any foolish love in town
'Cause there's none can hold a light
To this torch I carried round.
I can't say I'm to proud of the honor
But then I guess I do deserve it, dear
For to love you after all you've made me suffer
Surely makes me the big fool of the year.
Yes, you've made me the big fool of the year
In "Big Fool of the Year", George Jones sings about a group of people who are all hopelessly in love and are sharing their stories with each other. They all come to the realization that Jones is the biggest fool for still loving someone who has caused him so much pain. They award him a little golden statue of the torch that he carries for his love, something that no one can come close to. Jones acknowledges that he may not be proud of the honor, but it is one that he must accept, as he continues to love someone who has caused him so much suffering.
The lyrics of this song beautifully capture the essence of how love can be both wonderful and painful at the same time. It speaks to the reality that we often love people who do not love us back or who have hurt us in some way. As humans, we have a tendency to hold on to the hope that things will change, even when all evidence suggests otherwise. This song is a reminder that we are not alone in our foolishness and that, in fact, it is something that we all have in common.
Line by Line Meaning
All the big fools in town got together
A group of people who have all made foolish decisions in their love lives gathered in one place.
Every hopeless lovin' heart I know was there
Everyone at the gathering was a hopeless romantic.
We all sat around and told our own best story
The group shared stories about their failed romantic endeavors.
Then they made me the big fool of the year.
The group deemed the artist to have made the most foolish decision in love among them.
Oh, they gave to me a little golden statue
The group presented the artist with a trophy.
Of the torch that I carried for you, dear
The trophy symbolized the singer's unrequited love for someone.
They said no one else could even come close to me
The group believed that the singer's foolishness in love was unmatched.
And that I was the big fool of the year.
The artist was deemed to be the biggest fool in love among the group.
I'll put mine up beside
The artist is confident that his or her foolish love is just as intense as anyone else's.
Any foolish love in town
The artist believes there are many other people in town who have also made foolish romantic decisions.
'Cause there's none can hold a light
The singer's love is unmatched by anyone else's.
To this torch I carried round.
The artist's unrequited love is a burden that he or she has carried for a long time.
I can't say I'm to proud of the honor
The singer does not feel proud to have been deemed the biggest fool in love.
But then I guess I do deserve it, dear
The singer acknowledges that he or she has made foolish romantic decisions and thus deserves the title.
For to love you after all you've made me suffer
The singer has suffered as a result of loving someone who does not reciprocate those feelings.
Surely makes me the big fool of the year.
The artist's unrequited love has led him or her to be deemed the biggest fool in love among a group of similarly foolish individuals.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
vazco64
Rest in Peace George....thanks for the amazing music
Frederick Joicey
First heard George in the 60s and was hooked ever after. I am still finding "new" recordings on the internet. What a singer !!!
Donnie Childers
One of the very best country music singers in the world. The one and only GEORGE JONES Thanks George for the beautiful music you made. There want never, ever be music to compare with your music. It's the very, very best in the whole wide world. We miss you so GEORGE. REST IN PEACE, LOVE YOU & WONT FORGET YOU.
John McQuire
You got singers and you got George Jones the greatest of them all
Glen Sobchyshyn
George Jones -one of the greatest vocalists singing a song written by one of the greatest writers-Justin Tubb
Jimmy Ray
Great song and a great era in country music. Rest in Peace George. I hope You can sing in your new body in Heaven.
yenal56
The Master Interpeter of a country song. This shows George at his very best.
Dixieboy 568
There is no one finer than George Jones. Little Possum is the best. He can not be touched in any way at all.
He is Top Dog. And his band will be in Heaven , playing for me as I come along !! Thanks for this.
david willison
What a catchy tune. Love it.
Lonnie Beavers
True country music at its best !!