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.
Crazy Arms
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Ralph Mooney - Chuck Seals)
« © '56 Tree Publishing, BMI / Songs Of Universal, BMI »
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
For my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
This ain't no crazy dream I know that it's real
You're someone else's love now you're not mine
Crazy arms that reach to...
So please take the treasured dreams I had for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms may hold somebody new but now I'm so lonely all the time
Crazy arms that reach to...
The song "Crazy Arms" by George Jones talks about a man who dreams of being with somebody who is now with someone else. The song talks about the man's yearning heart that wants to hold that person and the trouble his mind goes through knowing that she is going to marry someone else. The lyrics express the man's loneliness and how he feels like nobody is there for him. The man is heartbroken and knows that he can't do anything about the situation.
The song is a classic example of heartbreak and unrequited love. The music and lyrics capture the feeling of sadness and loneliness that comes with being rejected in a relationship. The lyrics are simple but effective in conveying the emotions of the singer. The song is a powerful expression of the feeling of being abandoned by someone you love and feeling lost and alone.
Line by Line Meaning
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
The singer is describing their arms which are desperate for someone else to love and hold, even though their heart knows this person actually belongs to someone else.
For my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
Although the singer's arms are reaching out for someone else, their heart knows that this person does not belong to them and they are yearning for a love that is unattainable.
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
The singer's mind is troubled because they know that the person they love is going to get married to someone else soon, making it impossible for them to be together.
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
The artist feels lonely all the time because they want to be with the person they love, but they know they cannot, which makes it difficult for them to find joy or happiness in anything else.
Now blue ain't the world for the way that I feel
The artist is saying that they do not feel 'blue' or sad about their situation, but rather they feel much worse and their heart is in a dark and stormy place because they cannot be with the person they love.
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
The singer's heart is filled with a lot of pain, anger and sadness because they are unable to be with the person they love.
This ain't no crazy dream I know that it's real
The singer is saying that their love for this person is not a passing whim or frivolous feeling, but rather it is very real and deep, even though they know the person belongs to someone else.
You're someone else's love now you're not mine
The artist acknowledges that the person they love belongs to another, which makes them feel even more lonely and sad.
So please take the treasured dreams I had for you and me
The artist is asking the person they love to take all the dreams and hopes they had for them to be together because they know that it is impossible and it only causes them pain.
And take all the love I thought was mine
The artist is acknowledging that the love they had for this person was never really theirs to begin with and they need to let it go.
Someday my crazy arms may hold somebody new but now I'm so lonely all the time
The singer knows that someday they may find someone new to love, but for now they feel extremely lonely because they cannot be with the person they love.
Crazy arms that reach to...
This line repeats throughout the song and refers to the artist's arms which are reaching out for someone else's love even though they know it is impossible.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHUCK SEALS, RALPH EUGENE MOONEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@noraabago
LYRICS:
Now blue ain't the world for the way that I feel
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
This ain't no crazy dream I know that it's real
And you're someone else's love now you're not mine
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
And my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
So please take these treasured dreams I have for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday these crazy arms will hold somebody new but now I'm so lonely all the time
Crazy arms that reach to...
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
@BardiXOfficial
I wanna thank Rockstar for adding this song
@squirrel9760
BardiX Official came here just for this
@nlta7497
Facts!
@ashleydurden7179
145th like!
@conradlqnge430
Lptpp
@ethangauthier9265
@Brayden Schwarz same
@desolatesoul2304
I’m honored to see how many people enjoy this song. It’s been a family heirloom so to speak, for generations in my lineage. The songwriter, Charles Seals, who wrote this is my third cousin.
@alanleveke478
I'm chilean and I'm searching for new music, the only thing that I say is that is nice to be here man...
@mikeuyeda2330
Did Ralph Mooney work on this song with Charles Seals? All time great Country song. Thanks for sharing that family story.
@ecksdee1248
I thought Paul Gilley wrote this song.