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.
The Rock
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why no one's beside you where I usually lay
And you think you hear the sound of distant thunder
Well, that's just your old rock (just your old rock) a-rolling away.
I was a rock standing strong for you
For there was nothing that I wouldn't do
No matter the cost I was ready to pay
Like some old rock you've been draggin' around
Yes, I'm your old rock (just your old rock) but now I'm rolling away.
I'm rolling away on a downhill grade
But I'm gonna come to rest at a mountain of love someday
'Cause I finally understand if you're resting on shifting sand
Well, even a rock (even a rock) will go a-rolling away.
I was a rock standing strong for you
No, there was nothing that I wouldn't do
No matter the cost I was ready to pay
Now you say I'm only holding you down
Like some old rock you've been draggin' around
Yes, I was your old rock (just your old rock) but I'm a-rolling away.
Honey, I was your rock (just your old rock) now I'm rolling away.
The lyrics of George Jones’s song “The Rock” refer to a relationship that has come to an end. The singer addresses the person they were once close to, commenting that they’ve slowly, steadily pulled away until they’re now as distant and remote as a rumbling thunderstorm on the horizon. The reason for this retreat, the singer explains, is that they’ve been likened to an old, burdensome rock that has aged and gathered dust over time. Once a strong and stalwart supporter of the person they love, the singer now feels discarded, insignificant, and unworthy of the love they once shared. The singer compares themselves to a rock that has been a constant support, propping up the other person in need, but has now become a burden on them.
As the lyrics continue, the singer makes it clear that they’re moving on. They’re rolling away downhill, with the implication that they’re leaving their lovers' life, and regardless of the emotional terrain, their slog will soon end at the “mountain of love.” The singer has finally realized that relationships built on shifting sand won't survive. So, even though they once thought of themselves as a rock, strong and unbreakable, they now understand that even rocks can be eroded and carried away by powerful forces.
Line by Line Meaning
When you wake up in the mornin' and you wonder
The song begins with the singer telling the listener to imagine waking up and feeling alone, wondering what happened in their relationship.
Why no one's beside you where I usually lay
The singer is referring to their absence from the listener's bed, highlighting the distance and separation that has occurred.
And you think you hear the sound of distant thunder
The listener is experiencing a feeling of apprehension about their relationship, hearing metaphorical thunder in the distance as a warning of imminent change.
Well, that's just your old rock (just your old rock) a-rolling away.
The artist is explaining that the sound the listener heard was just him, their 'rock,' moving away and ending their relationship.
I was a rock standing strong for you
The artist is reflecting on his role in the relationship, being someone the listener could rely on and trust.
For there was nothing that I wouldn't do
The singer was committed to going above and beyond for the listener, showing no limitations in his love and support.
No matter the cost I was ready to pay
The singer was willing to make sacrifices and endure hardship for the relationship.
Now you say I'm only holding you down
The listener now believes that the artist is a hindrance and preventing them from moving forward in their life.
Like some old rock you've been draggin' around
The listener sees the artist as a burden, weighing them down like a heavy rock that they have been carrying with them for too long.
Yes, I'm your old rock (just your old rock) but now I'm rolling away.
The artist is acknowledging that he was once the listener's rock, but is now moving on and ending the relationship.
I'm rolling away on a downhill grade
The singer is describing how he is leaving behind the relationship with ease, almost as if he is moving downhill without resistance.
But I'm gonna come to rest at a mountain of love someday
The artist maintains hope that he will find love in the future, a mountain of love that he will eventually come to rest at.
'Cause I finally understand if you're resting on shifting sand
The singer has had a realization that the relationship was unstable, built on shifting sand, and was not meant to last.
Well, even a rock (even a rock) will go a-rolling away.
The singer is concluding that even rocks, something that is usually stable and immovable, can eventually move and change when circumstances require it.
Honey, I was your rock (just your old rock) now I'm rolling away.
The final line in the song restates the singer's role as the listener's former rock, one that has now moved on and is rolling away.
Lyrics © GLAD MUSIC CO.
Written by: GEORGE JONES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Brian Ty
RIP Possum! Legends like George Jones who sang some of the best damn country ever produced will live on forever!
Raymomd Arthur
Great album and great song.
💖Miss V💖
Touches deep in my already deep soul ❤️
jj walker
As much as I miss them all.
Cash,waylon,haggerd,Whitley,an many more.
Never in my life did I connect someone's music like George Jones
Absolutly the king of country.
RIP George Jones.
Dennis Riley
still listening in 2022 and always,no one could even.come close❤❤❤
Glenn Justice
I came to appreciate George Jones late in my life. After a life of mistakes , I’m much less likely to judge. This is country music in its purest form. Don’t hear much of it anymore. That’s sad. What a story in this song. Thanks George.
Bill Iron Hawk
Had the album, among his greatest. Vince and Patty's subtle bgv are just icing on the cake.
imisskatelyn
Patty is about to be brought into the country music hall of fame this fall. She is my favorite female country singer of all time and of course George Jonesis my pick in the male category.
Joshua Penwell
this one of my favorite song's ever its truly a good one
Leoda Bell
Beautiful song