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.
No Money In This Deal
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I'll stop and talk to you
You can walk around the block
And I will walk around it too
But you can sit down in the park
Do some lovin' in the dark
But to me you don't appeal
Now you might say to me let's eat
I might say my name is Pete
And you say that yours is Joyce
But I know it could be Lois
We can go ahead and fill
A life that isn't real
Later I might say I'm Bill
'Cause there ain't no money in this deal
Well, if you want me dear
Come and get me I'll be here
And I will marry you
If you say that you will do
Anything I say until
You buy me an automobile
But I won't stay with you still
Unless there's money in this deal
Well, then she turned around and said
She'd rather be dead
Than to see me spend her money
When I ain't never called her honey
Said, that's all for you Hill
She already got her fill
Told me to go find another
'Cause there ain't no money in this deal
I mean it baby,
There's no money in this deal
George Jones's song "No Money In This Deal" is a classic country tune about a man and woman whose relationship is built solely on the potential for financial gain. The lyrics tell a story of a shallow, materialistic woman who only wants to be with the man for his money. The chorus, "There ain't no money in this deal," is a recurring reminder that the woman's love is not genuine and that their relationship is purely transactional.
The song's verses describe different scenarios where the couple can meet and interact, but in each instance, the man is only interested in the transactional aspect of their relationship, and the woman is only interested in getting what she can out of him. The song highlights the grasping nature of human relationships and how relationships can sometimes be based on surface-level motives.
Jones's performance on the track is one of the most impressive aspects of the song. His voice is filled with emotion, and his delivery is spot-on. He manages to infuse the song with the melancholic air of a man who knows that his relationship is doomed but continues to pursue the woman anyway. The song's simple structure and melody make it a classic country tune that fans of the genre will appreciate.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I can meet you on the street
I'm willing to talk to you when I see you on the street
And I'll stop and talk to you
I'll stop whatever I'm doing to chat with you
You can walk around the block
You can take a walk around the neighborhood
And I will walk around it too
I'll walk with you if you want me to
But you can sit down in the park
You can spend some quality time in the playground
Do some lovin' in the dark
Make out in the darkness
But to me you don't appeal
I'm not interested in you that way
'Cause there ain't no money in this deal
Because I won't get any financial benefits from this relationship
Now you might say to me let's eat
You might suggest we grab a bite to eat together
I might say my name is Pete
I might decide to introduce myself as Pete
And you say that yours is Joyce
And you may tell me your name is Joyce
But I know it could be Lois
But I suspect that you're not being truthful
We can go ahead and fill
We can go on and date each other
A life that isn't real
We can pretend to have a life that isn't genuine
Later I might say I'm Bill
Later, I may pretend that my name is Bill
'Cause there ain't no money in this deal
Because I won't get any financial benefits from this relationship
Well, if you want me dear
If you really want to be with me
Come and get me I'll be here
I'm here waiting for you to make a move
And I will marry you
I promise to marry you
If you say that you will do
If you agree to do whatever I say
Anything I say until
Whatever I command you to do
You buy me an automobile
You buy me a car
But I won't stay with you still
But I won't stay with you for long
Unless there's money in this deal
Unless I can get some financial benefits from being with you
Well, then she turned around and said
Then she abruptly cut me off and said
She'd rather be dead
She'd rather die than be with me
Than to see me spend her money
Than watch me waste her money
When I ain't never called her honey
When I had never even called her 'honey'
Said, that's all for you Hill
Said, that's all you'll get from me, Hill (referring to the last name)
She already got her fill
She already had enough of me
Told me to go find another
She advised me to look for someone else
'Cause there ain't no money in this deal
Because I won't get any financial benefits from this relationship
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE JONES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alex Crawford
I heard that George Jones’ biggest country music idol when he was young was Hank Williams, and I just heard this song for the first time today and I realized how much George Jones’ voice sounded like Hank Williams when George was young. I heard this song for the first time today on this Essential George Jones album as I got the album a couple days ago for Christmas.
Wayne Hutchens
George's first record!! It's actually a very entertaining song.
Abby Wood
+Lane Jacobs he does sound a lot like Hank
Lane Jacobs
Take 5 Tyler very true, but is it me, or does he sound A LOT like Hank Williams?
Kenneth Besselman
The original mono version! Much better than the stereo remix
J. Borda
Crippled inside.
Allen Murphy
Happy birthday Possum