He rose to fame in the mid-1960s, with an exuberant live act which included wearing tight breeches and billowing shirts, in an Edwardian style popular amongst his peers at the time. He was known for his overt sexuality, before this was as common as it became in subsequent years.
In 1963 he became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a local beat group. Clad all in black leather, Tom soon gained a reputation in the South Wales area. The Senators were still all unheard of in London.
In 1964 they laid down a few tracks with maverick Telstar producer Joe Meek, and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal. The plan was to release a single, Lonely Joe / I Was A Fool, but the ever-flighty Meek refused to release the tapes. The group returned to South Wales and continued to play gigs at dance halls and working mens clubs. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Tom was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Tom's manager, and took the young singer to London. He also renamed him Tom Jones. The Senators became the Playboys, and later still the Squires.
Jones was awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965. It's Not Unusual, after the song having first been offered to Sandie Shaw. Jones recorded what was intended to be a demo for Shaw, but when she heard it she was so impressed with Jones' delivery that she declined the song and recommended that Jones release it himself. The record was the second Decca single Jones released, reaching number one in the UK charts in 1965. It was also the first hit for Jones in the US, peaking at #10 in May of that year. The single was released in the US on the Parrot label and also reached #3 on Billboard's easy listening chart. Jones used this song as the theme for his late 1960s-early 1970s musical variety series This Is Tom Jones. It has since become Jones' signature song.
In 1965 Tom sang the theme tune to the James Bond film Thunderball.
Jones' recording career slumped on the pop charts during the 1970s and 80s, although he placed 16 singles on the Billboard Country Music charts between 1976 and 1985, the biggest of which was "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow" (# 1 Country, # 15 pop) in 1977, and his touring continued successfully. When his son Mark became his manager in 1987, his musical style was taken in a different direction. His recording career was revived with his first major hit single in over a decade, "A Boy From Nowhere", taken from the musical Matador. In 1988 he collaborated with The Art of Noise to record Prince's popular song "Kiss". Following this, he started to record in collaboration with a younger generation of musicians
His Reload album, released in 2000, became the biggest hit of his career. An album of cover versions recorded as duets with contemporary artists, using their record producers, and utilising their recording methods, it reached number one in the United Kingdom, and sold over 4 million copies worldwide.[1] In 2002, he released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean and included the singles "Tom Jones International" and "Black Betty". In 2003, he was honored with a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004, his "Sex Bomb" single became a major club hit.
On New Year's Eve 2000 President Bill Clinton invited Tom to perform at the Millennium Celebrations in Washington. Throughout 2000, Tom garnered several honours for his work, including a Brit Award for Best Male. In 2001 Tom toured throughout the Middle East and Europe. In subsequent years Tom recorded albums in collaboration with such artists as Wyclef Jean and Jools Holland.
In celebration of his 65th birthday, on 28 May 2005 Tom returned to his homeland to perform a spectacular concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd. This was Tom's first performance in Ponty since 1964.
For his contribution to the recording industry, Tom Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2005 the album Together In Concert, was recorded live with John Farnham and his band.
He has collaborated with Chicane for "Stoned in Love", a dance track that was released 24 April 2006. It entered at number eight in the UK charts the following Sunday.
In 2007, he signed to New York-based independent label S-Curve, owned by music executive Steve Greenberg.
The singer was awarded an OBE in 1999 and a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 New Years Honours list for his services to music and was subsequently knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London on 29 March 2006.[7]
On 1 July 2007, Jones was one of the invited artists who performed at Wembley Stadium at the Concert for Diana, joined on stage by guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith and British soul singer Joss Stone. He sang the British National Anthem before Ricky Hatton's fight against Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas on 8 December 2007. On 19 April 2008 he sang the Welsh National Anthem at the Calzaghe-Hopkins fight in Las Vegas.
Although his manager and public relations staff have attempted to change his sex-bomb image and neutralize the knicker-throwing fans, to the delight of his audiences Jones has never felt the need to tone down his behavior in the shows. Tom Jones has remained highly respected by other singers and continues to attract audiences of all ages. As of 2008, Jones continues to tour and record. A major portion of the year he regularly performs his show at the MGM Grand hotel, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, USA. His show at the MGM is performed in a cabaret-style theater. Other venues on his yearly schedule include numerous shows at Atlantic City, NJ and appearances in the USA, United Kingdom and Canada. In February 2007, Jones made a long-awaited South American tour.
On 17 September 2008, Jones announced the release of his retro-tinged album "24 Hours" on S-Curve Records, his first for 15 years in the US; notably, this is the first record in which he's had a direct song-writing input. It was produced largely by drum'n'bass stalwarts Future Cut.
"It's all very well just singing songs," says Jones, "but for this record I really wanted to get properly personal. I've been getting reflective recently, looking over my journey through life, and I wanted to get that down on song. This time I wanted to make something that was all about me, my stories, my life. In other words, you listen to this album and you get the real me."
Ain't Gonna Bump No More
Tom Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was at a disco
Man, I wanted to bump
I was rarin' to go
And this big fat woman
Bumped me on the floor
She was rarin' to go
That chick was rarin' to go
Almost broke my hip
She was gettin' down
That chick was gettin' down
She wanted to bump some more
But I told her, "No!"
You done knocked me down once
You done knocked me down once
Said if you want to dance
Find you a big fat man
Y'all both can get on down
Y'all both can get on down
Huh!
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
Lord, I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
Somebody take her
She's too big for me
She'll knock me down
She came over to me
Snatched me out of my seat
She wanted to get on down
Still wanted to get on down
I told her to go on
And leave me alone
I ain't gettin' down
You done hurt my hip once
I know what you'll do
I ain't gonna bump with you!
I don't feel like gettin' down
Don't feel like gettin' down
She just shook her head
At every word I said
She wanted to get on down
That woman wanted to get on down
She did that dip again
And I hit the floor again
She was gettin' down, Lord
That woman was gettin' down
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
Aahh, I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
Somebody take her
I don't want her
She done hurt my hip
She done knocked me down
Done hurt my hip
She done knocked me down
Somebody take her
I don't want her
Say Leroy! You can have this one, dude
This big fat woman, dude
Tom Jones's song Ain't Gonna Bump No More is about a man who goes to a disco and wants to dance, but ends up bumping into a big fat woman who nearly injures him with her intense moves. He tries to politely decline dancing with her again, saying that she's too big for him and nearly injuring him with her dips. Despite this, the woman still wants to dance with him, and he continues to refuse her advances, stating that he's not going to bump with her anymore.
The song is a commentary on body image, weight, and attraction. It suggests that the big fat woman is unwanted and undesirable, and that the singer would rather dance with someone thinner. This perpetuates harmful stereotypes about weight and beauty, reinforcing social ideals that privilege thinness and body size over other aspects of a person's character. However, the song can also be interpreted as a critique of the disco culture that emphasized sexualized movement, and the idea that everyone was expected to participate in it, regardless of whether they wanted to or not.
Line by Line Meaning
Three nights ago
I was at a disco
Man, I wanted to bump
I was rarin' to go
I was at a disco three nights ago and was very excited to dance and bump with someone
And this big fat woman
Bumped me on the floor
She was rarin' to go
That chick was rarin' to go
A big woman hit me on the dance floor with so much force that I fell, and she seemed to be really interested in dancing with someone
Then she did a dip
Almost broke my hip
She was gettin' down
That chick was gettin' down
She tried to do a dip move and ended up hurting me. She seemed to be enjoying the dancing a lot.
She wanted to bump some more
But I told her, "No!"
You done knocked me down once
You done knocked me down once
Although she wanted to continue dancing, I refused because she was too forceful and had already caused my fall before
Said if you want to dance
Find you a big fat man
Y'all both can get on down
Y'all both can get on down
Huh!
I suggested that she would dance better with a big man like her and that they could enjoy the dance together
Somebody take her
She's too big for me
She'll knock me down
I wanted someone to take the big lady as she was too forceful and might end up knocking me on the floor again
She came over to me
Snatched me out of my seat
She wanted to get on down
Still wanted to get on down
She came and forced me out of my seat and still wanted to continue dancing
I told her to go on
And leave me alone
I ain't gettin' down
You done hurt my hip once
I know what you'll do
I ain't gonna bump with you!
I don't feel like gettin' down
Don't feel like gettin' down
I told her to leave me alone, as she had already caused me hip injury once and I know she would repeat it, so I refused to dance with her and told her I am not interested to dance.
She just shook her head
At every word I said
She wanted to get on down
That woman wanted to get on down
She did not listen to me and still wanted to dance and bumped me despite me advising her otherwise
She did that dip again
And I hit the floor again
She was gettin' down, Lord
That woman was gettin' down
She tried the dip move again, causing me to fall once more. This time, I realized she was enjoying the dance more than I thought she would.
Somebody take her
I don't want her
She done hurt my hip
She done knocked me down
Done hurt my hip
She done knocked me down
Somebody take her
I don't want her
Say Leroy! You can have this one, dude
This big fat woman, dude
I didn’t want to dance with her anymore since she had caused me pain and was quite forceful. So I asked someone to take her, and even suggested that one guy, Leroy, to take her if he was interested, since she seems to be his type.
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
Aahh, I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
I ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman
In conclusion, I refuse to bump with big women as they cause me pain and are too forceful in their dance moves.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Buddy Killen, Bennie McGinty
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
NIOZELLA
One of the most underrated baddest jams of all time. We rock to this in 2021, in New Zealand, & we definitely like to bump the big ladies. We don’t hate, we appreciate, then we participate.
1982bored
As long as they fun.... Women always gonna have a dance with me
Jerri Duncan
I got to take my big self to NZ!
Edvige Babasse
I love Thierry song
NIOZELLA
Mam Tor No, I wasn't 😔
Troy Ellis
One of the most underrated Soul Train performances of ALL TIME !
LiftingLena
My mom occasionally sings this around the house, and I just thought she made it up 😂 This song and Joe Tex’s performance tickles me so much! Love it!
Rochelle Lathan
Right! I thought my mom made it up too!!! I'm screaming lol
Savannah Glebe
😂😂😂
Jacqueline Lowery
He was a funny guy!