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.
Least of All
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who in all this world did I think would be untrue
Oh oh least of all least of all you
Who did I expect to laugh and tell me we were through
Oh oh least of all least of all you
You who was so understanding you who said to me
We would always be together through eternity
Who know but I love to see hurt the way I do
You who was so understanding...
Oh oh least of all least of all you
In George Jones's song, "Least of All," the singer expresses his disappointment and hurt as he realizes that the one person he thought would never betray him, did just that. The song expresses the betrayal felt by the singer towards a person he trusted completely. The lyrics illustrate the singer's realization that the person he thought would always stand by him has actually stopped caring for him. He expected that they would never part ways and would always be together through thick and thin. However, this person ended up being the last person on earth whom he thought would betray him.
The song captures the sentiment of betrayal and the pain that it can cause. The artist's vocals also capture the raw emotions of the song, making the lyrics more powerful. Jones's voice is emotive, conveying the love and hurt that the singer is feeling.
Line by Line Meaning
(Oh least of all least of all you)
The person who I least expected to hurt me was you.
Who in all this world did I think would be untrue
Out of everyone in the world, I never thought you would be unfaithful.
Who did I expect to laugh and tell me we were through
I didn't expect you to be the one to end things and find it amusing.
You who was so understanding you who said to me
You were the one who always seemed to comprehend me, and even promised to always be by my side.
We would always be together through eternity
You reassured me that our love would last forever.
Who know but I love to see hurt the way I do
I can't fathom why, but I almost enjoy feeling the pain of being betrayed by you.
You who was so understanding...
You, someone who always empathized with me and knew where I was coming from, were the last person I expected to betray me.
Oh oh least of all least of all you
Of all the people who could hurt me, you were the least expected and the most painful.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CAROLE SMITH, SONNY JAMES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Wendell Lili
this voice can never be replace. R.I.P
soisitok
Tpage6 You are the greatest, thank you for uploading all these latest George Jones songs. He is the best. I just wish country music would go back again where it used to be.
Tony Cox
No one else can ever sing or sound like George Jones. By far the best of the best. We miss this music so much and wish it would go back to this but who is talented enough to sing like this? None.
Karen Lindsay
A great song 🎤 Thankyou for sharing🎸
Lena Andersson
Thanks Tom for all GREAT SONGS by George Jones🎤🎸Love them all💚
Cindy Wollmann
Some of my best past memories growing up
JACK REEVES
One of his all-time greatest!!!
Pamela Rasmussen
Yes. :-) Haven't heard this Lp in way too many years....
William Hutcheson
George may not be in a class by himself but it doesn't take long to call the roll.
Lena Andersson
Love George Jones🎤❤🍃🌹❤🍃🌹🎸