19 George Jones Quotes To Tip Your Hat To
George Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was a renowned, true legend of an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. Jones was able to claim international fame status through releasing hit record after hit record. When you walk into an establishment and hear George Jones on the speakers, you’ll know right away. He just had that kind of shine. We’ll take a look at some of the most memorable quotes that George Jones left us with.
1. On not worrying about what wasn’t
“There were a lot of songs during my MCA years that I thought should have been singles but were not. You can’t worry about what wasn’t – I was very lucky to have as many hits as I had.”
2. On supporting country music
“Country fans need to support country music by buying albums and concert tickets for traditional artists or the music will just fade away. And that would be really sad.”
3. On painting houses
“I tried to be a house painter, but I couldn’t stand all that paint all over me.”
4. On the beauty of a melody
“There’s nothing prettier in the world than a melody. I can get lost in a song with a melody. A lot of times I have, and the song wasn’t that good, but I would get lost in that melody, and I’d want to do the song.”
5. On old friends that pass away
“I miss all of my old friends who have passed away. Sometimes you just don’t understand why they were taken so soon. I loved and miss Johnny Cash. I miss my old buddy Johnny Paycheck, who happens to be buried in an area of the cemetery that I bought for my family.”
6. On country music storytelling
“Country music to me is heartfelt music that speaks to the common man. It is about real life stories with rather simple melodies that the average person can follow. Country music should speak directly and simply about the highs and lows of life. Something that anyone can relate to.”
7. On shutting out the world
“You can shut out the world. But you always have to stop, and the world is always waiting when you do.”
8. On the bad in everything
“There’s bad in everything. I dislike people misusing something that I love so much. It goes beyond the money. It goes beyond all of that and the glory. I love what I’ve done and I just can’t stand to see what they’re doing to it. But I’ve learned to live with it because that’s what they’ve done. They’ve come in with the modern sounds. I call it modern pop. It’s not country anymore.”
9. On measuring success
“Different people have their ways of measuring success, maybe it’s not the right way but wrong’s what I do best.”
10. On keeping it real
“Be real about what you do. Stay true to the voice inside you. Don’t let the ‘business’ change what it is you love because the people, the fans, respond to what is heartfelt. They can always tell when a singer is faking it.”
11. On wisely answering questions
“There are questions I’m still not wise enough to answer, just wise enough to no longer ask.”
12. On enjoying life
“I just want to keep living on and enjoying food. Even though I’m gaining weight, I want to record if the Lord wants me to still record, and I just want to do my work on the road as long as I got those fans out there.”
13. On doing things your way
“No matter what song I recorded or sang, I did it my way.”
14. On gratitude for the fans
“I would just like to say thank you to each one of my fans for supporting me all these years and continuing to come to the concerts and buy my music. I owe them everything.”
15. On gospel music
“I’ve always said that if I could have made a living someway in gospel music, I would have loved to had that break, but it never was offered to me, a job in that field, so naturally, I got lost on that other road.”
16. On leaving an impression
“If people liked your singing well enough, if you were special to them, then you never left their minds throughout all of the years.”
17. On modern fans’ forgetfulness
“Today they forget you in five years. They give an artist nowadays four or five years and that’s it. Some of them don’t have that. They get a couple of releases. If you don’t sell two million copies, you’re gone, you’re out of here.”
18. On true happiness
“When you’re happy you enjoy the music. When you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.”
19. On Patsy Cline
“All Patsy Cline had to do was sing somebody else’s song and her version would outsell theirs because it would be so good.”