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.
You Comb Her Hair
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And if I met someone who thrills me so
Well, I've finally met a girl who turns me inside out
I'll tell you about her for you ought to know
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
When she's around me sometimes I can hardly speak
I stammer and I walk right into doors
And just to hold her hand in mine makes me feel weak
Oh, you know her honey, she's a friend of yours
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed every night
George Jones's song, "You Comb Her Hair," is a ballad that tells the story of a man who has fallen in love with a woman, and he wants to share his joy with his friend. The lyrics express his admiration for the woman he loves and how she has changed his life. The singer reveals that he has found someone special and he cannot contain his happiness any longer. He then goes on to describe how the woman's physical presence around him causes him to feel nervous and tongue-tied. The man implies that he's smitten and head-over-heels in love with the woman, and his friend ought to know about it.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the woman's beauty and the effort put forth by her caretaker. The first line, "You comb her hair every morning," is almost a symbol of their deeply intimate relationship. The act of combing a person's hair can be an intimate moment shared between two people who are comfortable with one another. This line also suggests that the woman is well cared for and loved, and perhaps this is one of the reasons for her attractiveness. In contrast, the second line, "And make sure she dresses just right," may be seen as superficial or materialistic, indicating that the woman is well-groomed and well-dressed, a sort of accessory adorned by her caretaker. The repetition of the chorus reinforces the importance of the caretaker in the woman's life.
Line by Line Meaning
I know that you're wondering who I dream about
I'm aware that you're curious as to who occupies my thoughts
And if I met someone who thrills me so
And if I've met someone who captivates me
Well, I've finally met a girl who turns me inside out
I've finally met a girl who completely overwhelms me
I'll tell you about her for you ought to know
I'll share information about her because you deserve to know
You comb her hair every mornin'
You take care of her every morning by combing her hair
And make sure she dresses just right
And ensure that she looks presentable by helping her with her attire
And put her to bed every night
And every night, you assist her with getting ready for bed
When she's around me sometimes I can hardly speak
In her presence, there are moments when I find it difficult to articulate myself
I stammer and I walk right into doors
As a result, I tend to stutter and even bump into objects
And just to hold her hand in mine makes me feel weak
However, simply holding her hand causes me to feel weak and powerless
Oh, you know her honey, she's a friend of yours
Oh, by the way, you know her, she's a friend of yours
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, LEGACY OF HARLAN PERRY HOWARD, LLC
Written by: HANK COCHRAN, HARLAN HOWARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@GuriMalla2010
Lyrics :
I know that you're wondering who I dream about
And if I met someone who thrills me so
Well, I've finally met a girl who turns me inside out
I'll tell you about her for you ought to know
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed every night
When she's around me sometimes I can hardly speak
I stammer and I walk right into doors
And just to hold her hand in mine makes me feel weak
Oh, you know her honey, she's a friend of yours
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed every night
@GuriMalla2010
Lyrics :
I know that you're wondering who I dream about
And if I met someone who thrills me so
Well, I've finally met a girl who turns me inside out
I'll tell you about her for you ought to know
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed every night
When she's around me sometimes I can hardly speak
I stammer and I walk right into doors
And just to hold her hand in mine makes me feel weak
Oh, you know her honey, she's a friend of yours
You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she dresses just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed every night
@debcrockett366
I thought it was about his daughter but when he says, "You know her honey, she's a friend of yours, I'm confused. WHO IS HE SINGING ABOUT? I love this song & EVERY song GEORGE has done..Just trying to get who he's singing about...
@bluesslider76
The greatest. What a tone in that voice. Impossible to recreate. G.O.A.T.
@AngelaSmitherman
I love this lady 💖💖
@bobcampbell5151
Mel Street
@SuzyQ1956
Agreed. The best country singer that ever lived, maybe someday there will be another, but I haven’t heard them yet. ❤
@jackiewells7018
I love this song, it was hard to get it played the last 10 years before George passed away. He is gone but not forgotten. George was a great artist.
@sandyw8850
Thanks for posting this song, I Love George Jones, and most of the country songs from that era, Real Great Country . Not like the songs they label as country songs nowadays.
@debcrockett366
💯% concur! Nothing better once we've had the best & George Jones was the BEST!
@cathleenlynch3368
Love you George Jones !! Rest In Peace Angel !!! Simply the best … ❤️❤️❤️