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.
I Can't Change Overnight
George Jones Lyrics
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(George Jones - Johnny Mathis)
« © '63 Glad Music »
There's a love in my heart that I'd been keeping
I don't know how to give it away to someone new
Oh you walked out the door and left me weeping
And I can't change overnight from loving you
Where my feet touch the ground then that's where I'll call home
I don't like all this loneliness that I go through
But I can't change overnight from loving you
All you say to forget the lips I used to kiss
Find someone to take the place of a love I once knew
Yes you walked out the door and left me weeping
And I can't change overnight from loving you
In the song I Can't Change Overnight, George Jones expresses his inability to move on from a past love. He begins by acknowledging that he had been keeping a love in his heart which he doesn't know how to give away to someone new. The pain of the breakup is evident in the fact that he weeps when his lover walks out the door. He then goes on to say that he cannot change overnight from loving her, indicating that he needs time to heal.
Jones then talks about how he would rather be alone than to be in a relationship that doesn't feel right. He says that he would walk alone if he can't walk with her and that wherever he puts his feet down, that's where he will call home. He admits that he doesn't enjoy the loneliness he is going through, but he cannot change overnight from loving her.
Finally, Jones addresses his ex-lover's advice to forget the past and move on. He says that he cannot easily forget the lips he used to kiss and find someone to take the place of the love he once knew. He concludes by reiterating the fact that his love for her runs deep and that he cannot change overnight from loving her.
Overall, the song is a poignant expression of the pain and difficulty of moving on from a past love. The lyrics show the struggle of letting go and the acknowledgment that healing takes time.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a love in my heart that I'd been keeping
I had been keeping love concealed within me
I don't know how to give it away to someone new
I am inexperienced in giving this love to another person
Oh you walked out the door and left me weeping
Your departure caused me to cry and feel emotional pain
And I can't change overnight from loving you
I cannot suddenly stop loving you without taking time to heal and process my emotions
If I can't walk with you then I'll walk all alone
If I cannot have you as my companion, then I will go on alone in life
Where my feet touch the ground then that's where I'll call home
Wherever I end up in life, that will be my new home
I don't like all this loneliness that I go through
I dislike the feeling of loneliness that I experience
But I can't change overnight from loving you
However, I cannot change my feelings for you suddenly
All you say to forget the lips I used to kiss
You tell me to forget about the past moments we shared
Find someone to take the place of a love I once knew
You suggest that I find a new love to replace the one I lost
Yes you walked out the door and left me weeping
Again, you left me in pain and sadness as you walked away
And I can't change overnight from loving you
Once more, I cannot simply stop loving you just like that
Lyrics © GLAD MUSIC CO.
Written by: G. JONES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
William Johnson
This is country music at its very best. . .long live King George, and his music.
Shirley T
One of the best from MR. Jones I will always love these songs because I grew up listening to them, thanks to my mom :)
James Powell
Great song!!!
Raymond Arthur
I believe George Jones wrote this song.
Great song.
Tom Page
Yes, co-written with “Country” Johnny Mathis.
lindalovesal
Love this song,feeling pretty down at the moment....
steinsteel
This is a live recording from radio late 60s. My favorite
John brown
wow what a great song
Paulina Johnson
John brown yesss possum
Pauline Mulhern
Love George.