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.
It's Ok
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's okay that you are happy long as I don't interfer
It's okay with me sweet baby, I've been fed up from the start
It so fine to find another sucker, it's okay to break his heart
If you leave, I won't greive
Leave today, it's okay
That's what you want, honky tonk
--- Instrumental ---
It's okay you found another, it's okay if he wants you
It's okay to leave tomorrow that just what I hope you do
It's okay if your a cheater, it's okay if cheaters win
'Cause it's best to be a loser when your in the shape I'm in.
If you leave, I won't greive
Leave today, it's okay
That's what you want, honky tonk
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
--- Instrumental ---
If you leave, I won't greive
Leave today, it's okay
That's what you want, honky tonk
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay...
The song "It's Okay" by George Jones is about a person who has come to terms with their significant other leaving them. The singer of the song portrays a sense of indifference towards the breakup, saying "it's okay" multiple times throughout the song. He acknowledges that the person he is speaking to has found happiness elsewhere, and he is okay with that as long as he is not interfered with. He even goes so far as to say that it's fine if she finds another "sucker" to break their heart.
The overall tone of the song is one of resignation and acceptance of the situation. The singer is not upset by the impending breakup and seemingly doesn't care whether or not the person he is talking to stays or leaves. He acknowledges that he is already fed up with the situation, implying that perhaps the two have been having issues in their relationship that have led to this point.
Line by Line Meaning
It's okay that you are leaving, it's okay if you don't care
I accept that you are leaving and it doesn't matter to me whether or not you care.
It's okay that you are happy long as I don't interfer
As long as I don't get in the way, I don't mind if you're happy without me.
It's okay with me sweet baby, I've been fed up from the start
Honestly, I've been frustrated with this relationship from the beginning, so it's okay with me if you leave.
It so fine to find another sucker, it's okay to break his heart
I honestly don't care if you find another person to fool into loving you, even if it means hurting them.
If you leave, I won't greive
I won't be sad if you leave.
Leave today, it's okay
It's okay if you leave now.
That's what you want, honky tonk
If leaving is what you want, then go ahead and leave, honky tonk.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
It really is okay, don't worry about it.
It's okay you found another, it's okay if he wants you
It's fine if you found someone else and he wants to be with you.
It's okay to leave tomorrow that just what I hope you do
I'm actually hoping you leave tomorrow, so it's okay if you do.
It's okay if your a cheater, it's okay if cheaters win
It's okay if you cheat on me, or if cheaters in general end up winning.
'Cause it's best to be a loser when your in the shape I'm in.
Honestly, I'm in a pretty bad place right now, so it's probably best that I just accept being a loser.
Contributed by Mateo H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Clayton Browm
I remember when this song came out. Enjoy it as much today as I did in 1956
Carter C
I've been enjoying all the George Jones lately, thanks for sharing