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.
She's Mine
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I won't say that I'm the only one who loves her
And I won't say I make her happy all the time
There's someone she can't forget
I know she never will, and yet
But as far as my heart's concerned, she's mine
And she forgets when I'm around her all the time
There are words I try to say
When she turns and walks away
But as far as my heart's concerned, she's mine
She's mine and yet I know someday I'll lose her
But she'll never take this happiness I've found
And I know it may sound foolish when I tell you
That I'm satisfied just having her around
Even when she's in my arms I know she's lonely
I wish that I could take that someone from her mind
But since her mother left our world
She's been daddy's little girl
She's a baby, I'm her daddy, and she's mine
In the song "She's Mine," George Jones sings about a woman who he loves deeply, but knows she can never fully be his. He acknowledges that there is someone else in her life that she can't forget and that he cannot completely make her happy. However, despite this, he believes that in his heart she belongs to him. Even though she has never explicitly said she needs him, he still holds onto hope and is content just to have her around.
Jones's vocals add a layer of emotion to the already poignant lyrics. The way he sings the chorus, declaring "she's mine," showcases his fierce love and determination to hold onto the woman he loves despite the odds. The final verse is particularly heart-wrenching, as he describes the sadness that lingers in her heart even when she is with him. He wishes he could take away her pain, but he also knows that she is his responsibility and that he will always be there for her.
Line by Line Meaning
I won't say that I'm the only one who loves her
I am aware that there are others who love her
And I won't say I make her happy all the time
I may not be the reason she is happy always
There's someone she can't forget
There is somebody in her past she can't forget
I know she never will, and yet
She won't forget this person, no matter what happens
But as far as my heart's concerned, she's mine
Despite her past and other people in her life, in my heart, she belongs to me
She never once has told me that she needs me
She has never really expressed that she needs me
And she forgets when I'm around her all the time
She tends to forget my presence even though I'm always around her
There are words I try to say
I have many things that I want to express
When she turns and walks away
But she never gives me a chance to tell her
But as far as my heart's concerned, she's mine
But regardless, she belongs to me in my heart
She's mine and yet I know someday I'll lose her
Though I consider her mine now, I am aware that we may not be together forever
But she'll never take this happiness I've found
But regardless of what happens, I will never forget the happiness being with her brought me
And I know it may sound foolish when I tell you
I understand that what I'm about to say might seem silly
That I'm satisfied just having her around
But just by being around her, I find contentment
Even when she's in my arms I know she's lonely
Even when she is with me, I understand that she still carries a certain amount of loneliness inside her
I wish that I could take that someone from her mind
I only wish that I could take away the person who causes this loneliness from her mind
But since her mother left our world
Due to the passing of her mother
She's been daddy's little girl
She has always been the apple of her father's eye
She's a baby, I'm her daddy, and she's mine
I consider her my baby, I'm her protector and I'll always protect her - she's mine
Lyrics © GLAD MUSIC CO., Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KENNETH D. GOODLOE, THEODORE ROOSEVELT JR. GOODLOE, JOE JONES, CARL RUDOLPH MCGINNIS, WILLIE OTIS MUNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
kkiilljjooy
https://amzn.to/2mjeBeA "She's Mine" (single) George Jones MP3 download from album "Music & Highlights: King of the Road"
https://amzn.to/2l0qg20 "Music & Highlights: King of the Road" (21 tracks album) George Jones MP3 download
Candis Kirby
George Jones is tha Man !!! There will never b another that can hold a candle next 2 this man!! A Legend n my eyes!!!
Neil Brennan
My idol Sister my eldest daughter song I used to sing it to me ❤️
Bob Grace
Candis Kirby I total agree
Betty Price
a true country singer no one will ever take his place rest in peace george
Duane Holmes
George Jones, the man with the heartbreaking voice. Never will be another.
Beemer Scoot
Only George Jones could take a 2 bit song like that and make it sound like a million dollars. Possum had NO peers!
david willison
Such a beautiful and sad song. R.I.P. George.
George Anderson
I can remember when I first heard this song back in the early 70's, it choked me up then and still does now.
anita graham
Cowboy1