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.
These Days
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't think I can work, but I'll try
The car's in the shop so I thumbed all the way
Oh, these days I barely get by
I walked home from work and it rained all the way
My wife left and didn't say why
She laid all our bills on the desk in the hall
Put my only two dollars on my favorite horse
He lost by a nose and I cried
Oh, my boss says come winter, we'll all be laid off
Oh, these days I barely get by
These days I barely get by
I want to give up, lay down and die
Worst of all was when she told me goodbye
Whoa, these days I barely get by
Whoa, these days, one barely gets by
In these lyrics, George Jones paints the picture of a man who is truly struggling. From physical pain to financial difficulties and relationship problems, he seems to be living a life of constant hardship. The first lines of the song reveal the physical pain that the singer is feeling, but despite this, he is determined to try and work. However, things only seem to get worse from there, as his car is in the shop and he has to hitchhike his way to work, highlighting his financial problems.
The second verse only adds to the feeling of despair as the singer walks home in the rain, only to find his wife has left him and all the household bills are waiting for him. The final verse highlights the desperation, as the singer puts his last $2 on a horse race, only to lose and cry, adding to the already overwhelming stress he is feeling. To top it all off, the singer’s boss tells him that they will all be laid off in the winter, leaving him with even more uncertainty about his future.
Overall, the song tells the story of a man who is struggling to keep his head above water in nearly every aspect of his life. The repeated refrain of “these days I barely get by” really highlights the overall theme of the song and the feeling of hopelessness that the singer is experiencing.
Line by Line Meaning
I woke up this morning aching with pain
I woke up feeling terrible, with my body aching and in pain
Don't think I can work, but I'll try
I don't feel like I can work because of how I feel, but I'll still try
The car's in the shop so I thumbed all the way
My car is being repaired, so I had to hitchhike all the way instead
Oh, these days I barely get by
These days I'm barely able to survive
I walked home from work and it rained all the way
I had to walk home from work and it was raining the entire time
My wife left and didn't say why
My wife left me without telling me why she was leaving
She laid all our bills on the desk in the hall
She left all of our bills on the desk in the hallway for me to deal with
Put my only two dollars on my favorite horse
I placed my last two dollars on my favorite horse to bet on
He lost by a nose and I cried
My favorite horse lost by just a small amount, and I was so disappointed that I cried
Oh, my boss says come winter, we'll all be laid off
My boss told me that when winter comes, we'll all be losing our jobs
These days I barely get by
These days I'm barely able to survive
I want to give up, lay down and die
I feel so hopeless that I just want to give up and die
Worst of all was when she told me goodbye
The worst thing that has happened to me recently was when my wife left me
Whoa, these days I barely get by
These days I'm barely able to survive
Whoa, these days, one barely gets by
These days it's just hard for anyone to survive
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: GEORGE JONES, TAMMY WYNETTE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
bob blender
Can't wait to get to heaven to hear ol George sing with all the angels
Coty Luckett
Oh these days! I barely get byyyyyyyy! Put my
Only 2 dollars on my favorite horse
Herbert Hinton
@Janitor BillMe too! Not wanting to miss that man singing.
Lois Dargan
What a sweet message,I think us fans would all love to meet George in heaven.
At four O thirty three
And while George Jones was here on earth singing even the angels stopped to give a listen.
Janitor Bill
If the possum is in heaven playing shows, i need to change my ways lol
Walking Together In The WOW!
When you've heard George Jones . . . you never forget it . . . still listening after all these years, and it sounds better than ever. RIP King George
Anthony Guillot
The BEST voice ever in country music. Unbelievable talent. Gone too soon. RIP George.
Craig Payne
God love that tear drenched voice. Rest in peace George. We were sad to see you go but you of all people certainly deserve your rest. Thanks for nearly 60 years of great music. We love you :)
JVegasjim
George Jones songs always hit close to home....the greatest ever.