Friday Videos: George Jones
What can I say about George Jones that hasn’t been said?
Country music’s best male singer, perhaps one the best singers across genres. I believe it was Waylon Jennings who remarked that George Jones was the singer that everyone else wanted to sound like.
George Jones has gotten me through more than one long dark night of the soul. That’s probably because George Jones’ life has been one long dark night of the soul:
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Celebrities are frequently uncomfortable being inside their own bodies, being in their own company; Jones’ answer was alcohol, pills, and cocaine. To fight the depression and shame of drinking, he’d drink more. To find the energy to go on, he’d put a gram of cocaine up his nose.
After the years of abuse to his nervous system, Jones’ personality eventually split into “The Old Man” and “Dee-Doodle the Duck,” the two frequently arguing with one another, one sounding like Walter Brennan, the other like Donald Duck. Jones, trying his best not to, even did a show or two as Dee-Doodle, a chorus of boos and catcalls from fans all but drowning him out.
That doesn’t even get into the half of it: at one point, Jones was destitute, living in a car with a cardboard cutout of Hank Williams that he would talk to as Dee-Doodle.
She Thinks Still I Care
“Milwaukee, Here I Come”, with Tammy Wynette
“The Race is On” (catch that insane vocal swoop at the 1:50 mark!)
Choices
He Stopped Loving Her Today
and the classic
Walk Through this World With Me.
