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.
Eskimo Pie
George Jones Lyrics
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(George Jones)
« © '57 Glad Music »
You can talk about your Frauleins and your pretty Geisha girls
And about the one you got in the USA
But I found myself a sweetheart in Alaska way up high
She's my Eskimo baby she's my Eskimo pie
She lives south of the North pole and I know the reason why
She's my Eskimo baby and I'll love her till I die
She's my Eskimo baby she's my Eskimo pie
Crossing o'er the frozen river to a valley filled with snow
I lost all my directions and I knew not where to go
When a warm hand fell upon me and a voice said with a sigh
I would take you to my igloo Mister I won't let you die
Well she's my Eskimo baby...
And there came the day of parting and we had to say goodbye
As I crossed back o'er the river I could think I hear her cry
I know that someday I'll return I must before I die
Cause she's my Eskimo baby she's my Eskimo pie
Well she's my Eskimo baby...
George Jones's song Eskimo Pie, released in 1957, is a beautiful ballad about a love affair between a man and a woman living in Alaska, far from the rest of the world. The song is a tribute to the singer's Eskimo girlfriend, who offers him warmth and love in the frozen wilderness. The lyrics depict the deep love and admiration the singer has for his Eskimo baby, who he calls his Eskimo pie. The song is sung in a slow and melodic tone, with a country-western feel that adds to its emotional power.
The lyrics of the song describe the journey of a man who is searching for love in Alaska. He has heard of Frauleins and Geisha girls but finds his true love in the form of an Eskimo girl. She is his Eskimo baby and his Eskimo pie who lives south of the North pole. He crossed over the frozen river to a valley filled with snow, and he lost his way. But then, a warm hand fell upon him, and a voice offered help. That voice belonged to his Eskimo baby who led him to her igloo and saved his life.
As the song concludes, it is evident that the man has to leave his beloved and return to the world outside Alaska. He hears her cry and vows to return to his Eskimo baby someday. The song leaves a sad, romantic feel to its listeners, with its poignant portrayal of love found in the most unexpected places.
Line by Line Meaning
You can talk about your Frauleins and your pretty Geisha girls
You may speak of other beautiful women from foreign lands,
And about the one you got in the USA
Or the one you have from your own country,
But I found myself a sweetheart in Alaska way up high
However, I have found my love in a remote and frigid place - Alaska,
She's my Eskimo baby she's my Eskimo pie
She is an Eskimo woman and the sweetest thing in the world to me,
She lives south of the North pole and I know the reason why
Although she lives below the North Pole, I know why she's there and why she's so special to me,
She's my Eskimo baby and I'll love her till I die
I love her dearly and will continue loving her until I pass away from this world,
Crossing o'er the frozen river to a valley filled with snow
One day while traversing a frozen river in a valley covered in snow,
I lost all my directions and I knew not where to go
I got lost and didn't know which direction to take,
When a warm hand fell upon me and a voice said with a sigh
Until a kind, warm hand touched my shoulder and a voice spoke to me with a sigh,
I would take you to my igloo Mister I won't let you die
Offering to take me to her igloo, she promised to save me from harm and death,
Well she's my Eskimo baby...
As I spent time with my beloved Eskimo woman,
And there came the day of parting and we had to say goodbye
The day inevitably arrived when we had to say goodbye to each other,
As I crossed back o'er the river I could think I hear her cry
As I left her behind and crossed the river, I could hear her crying in the distance,
I know that someday I'll return I must before I die
I'm sure that I will go back to her one day, it's a must before my life ends,
Cause she's my Eskimo baby she's my Eskimo pie
Because to me, she's my unbreakable Eskimo love and my sweet Eskimo pie.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: GEORGE JONES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind