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.
Roly Poly
George Jones Lyrics
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Roly Poly knowin' all the biscuits long as he can chew it it's okay
He can eat an apple pie and never even bat his eye
He likes everything from a soup to hay
Roly Poly daddy's little fatty daddy's gonna be a man someday
[ steel - fiddle ]
Roly Poly eats a hardy dinner it takes lots of strength to run and play
He pulls up weeds and does the chores and run both ways to all the stores
He works up that apetite that way
Roly Poly daddy's little fatty daddy's gonna be a man someday
The lyrics of George Jones’s song Roly Poly are a playful and lighthearted tribute to a portly and voracious young boy. The verses describe the eponymous character’s insatiable hunger, and his ability to eat from morning till night, seemingly without any adverse effects. The song paints a picture of a young boy who loves food in all its forms, but who also embraces his active lifestyle, working up an appetite by doing chores and running errands for his family. The refrain, “Roly Poly daddy’s little fatty, daddy’s gonna be a man someday”, acknowledges the boy’s excess weight but also suggests that he is destined for greatness.
While the song’s lyrics are uncomplicated and straightforward, they tap into a universal theme - the love of food and the joy of eating. Jones’s playful performance conveys a sense of relish and enjoyment in the subject matter, encouraging listeners to join in the fun. Through its rollicking melody and catchy chorus, Roly Poly celebrates the simple pleasures of life - good food, hard work, and the exuberance of youth.
Line by Line Meaning
Roly Poly eatin' corn and taters hungry every minute of the day
Roly Poly is always hungry and loves eating corn and potatoes all day long
Roly Poly knowin' all the biscuits long as he can chew it it's okay
Roly Poly loves biscuits and can eat them as long as he can chew them
He can eat an apple pie and never even bat his eye
Roly Poly can eat an entire apple pie without flinching
He likes everything from a soup to hay
Roly Poly enjoys eating everything from soup to hay
Roly Poly daddy's little fatty daddy's gonna be a man someday
Roly Poly may be overweight now, but he will eventually grow up to be a man
Roly Poly scrambled eggs for breakfast bread and jelly twenty times a day
Roly Poly eats scrambled eggs for breakfast and bread with jelly multiple times a day
Roly Poly eats a hardy dinner it takes lots of strength to run and play
Roly Poly eats a filling dinner because he needs energy to play and run around
He pulls up weeds and does the chores and run both ways to all the stores
Roly Poly does chores, pulls up weeds, and runs errands to build up his appetite
He works up that apetite that way
Roly Poly works hard to build up his appetite
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELSA DORAN, SOL LAKE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind