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He Stopped Loving Her Today
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"He Stopped Loving Her Today"
Single by George Jones
from the album I Am What I Am
B-side
"A Hard Act to Follow"
Released
April 14, 1980
Recorded
1979
Genre
Country
Length
3:15
Label
Epic
Songwriter(s)
Bobby Braddock
Curly Putman
Producer(s)
Billy Sherrill
George Jones
George Jones singles chronology
"Someday My Day Will Come"
(1979) "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
(1980) "I'm Not Ready Yet"
(1980)
"Someday My Day Will Come"
(1979) "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
(1980) "I'm Not Ready Yet"
(1980)
"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is a song recorded by American country music artist George Jones. It has been named in several surveys as the greatest country song of all time.[1] It was released in April 1980 as the lead single from the album I Am What I Am. The song was Jones's first solo No. 1 single in six years. The melancholy song was written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. The week after Jones' death the song re-entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 21. As of November 13, 2013, the single has sold 521,000 copies in the United States.[2] Since 2008 it has been preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry.
Alan Jackson sang the song during George Jones' funeral service on May 2, 2013. George Strait and Jackson sang the song as a tribute during the 2013 CMA Awards on November 6, 2013.
Contents
[hide]
1 Recording and composition
2 Reception
3 Chart performance
4 References
5 External links
Recording and composition[edit]
By 1980, Jones had not had a number one single in six years and many critics began to write him off. However, the singer stunned the music industry in April when "He Stopped Loving Her Today" shot to number one on the country charts and remained there for 18 weeks. The song was written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman and tells the story of a friend who has never given up on his love; he keeps old letters and photos from back in the day and hangs on to hope that she would "come back again". The song reaches its peak in the chorus, revealing that he indeed stopped loving her when he died and the woman does return—for his funeral. In a different singer's hands, the song might have sounded irreverent but Jones' interpretation, buoyed by his delivery of the line "...first time I'd seen him smile in years", gives it a realism. It is consistently voted as one of the greatest country songs of all time.[citation needed]
Producer Billy Sherrill introduced Jones to the song in 1978[3] but, according to Sherrill and Jones himself, the singer hated the song when he first heard it. In Bob Allen's biography of the singer, Sherrill states, "He thought it was too long, too sad, too depressing and that nobody would ever play it...He hated the melody and wouldn't learn it."[4] Sherrill also claims that Jones frustrated him by continually singing the song to the melody of the Kris Kristofferson hit "Help Me Make It Through the Night".[5] In the Same Ole Me retrospective, Sherrill recalls a heated exchange during one recording session: "I said 'That's not the melody!' and he said 'Yeah, but it's a better melody.' I said 'It might be—Kristofferson would think so too, it's his melody!'" In the same documentary, Sherrill claims that Jones was in such bad physical shape during this period that "the recitation was recorded 18 months after the first verse was" and added that the last words Jones said about "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was "Nobody'll buy that morbid son of a bitch". Although he had disliked "He Stopped Loving Her Today" when it was first offered to him, Jones ultimately gave the song credit for reviving his flagging career, stating that "a four-decade career had been salvaged by a three-minute song."[6] It was as much a tour de force for the producer was for the singer, featuring all the hallmarks of Sherrill's symphonic approach to country production, featuring cresting strings and dramatic flourishes. Had it not been for Sherrill, it is unlikely the song would have ever been recorded, such was his belief in the song, although he did share some of Jones' misgivings initially; in his 1995 memoir, Jones recalled, "Putnam and Braddock killed the song's main character too soon in their early versions. Billy kept telling them to kill the guy at a different time and then have the woman come to his funeral...He gave the song to me, and I carried it for more than a year, also convinced that it needed rewriting. Billy had a notebook about an inch thick that was nothing but rewrites for 'He Stopped Loving Her Today.'"[7]
Reception[edit]
The success of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" led CBS Records to renew Jones' recording contract and sparked new interest in the singer. Jones earned the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1980. The Academy of Country Music awarded the song Single of the Year and Song of the Year in 1980. It also became the Country Music Association's Song of the Year in both 1980 and 1981. The song became so synonymous with Jones that few singers dared to cover it. Jones recorded the song again with producer Keith Stegall for the 2005 album Hits I Missed...And One I Didn't. A recording of Johnny Cash performing the song is featured on the 2003 collection Unearthed and Trent Summar & the New Row Mob recorded it on 2006's Horseshoes & Hand Grenades.
Chart performance[edit]
Chart (1980)
Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 2
Chart (2013)
Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[8] 21
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Song Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
Jump up ^ Matt Bjorke (November 13, 2013). "Country Chart News - The Top 30 Digital Singles - November 13, 2013: CMA Awards Drive Sales; Eric Church "The Outsiders" #1; Taylor Swift "Red" #3". Roughstock.
Jump up ^ Jones, George; Carter, Tom 1995, pp. 250.
Jump up ^ Allen, Bob 1996, pp. 299.
Jump up ^ Allen, Bob 1996, pp. 299-300.
Jump up ^ Jones, George; Carter, Tom 1995, pp. 253.
Jump up ^ Jones, George; Carter, Tom 1995, pp. 251.
Jump up ^ "George Jones – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for George Jones.
External links[edit]
The Story Behind The Song
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Preceded by
"Trying to Love Two Women"
by The Oak Ridge Boys Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single
July 5, 1980 Succeeded by
"You Win Again"
by Charley Pride
[hide]
v
t
e
George Jones songs
Singles
"No Money in This Deal"
"Why Baby Why"
"Achin', Breakin' Heart"
"Seasons of My Heart"
"Too Much Water"
"Just One More"
"Don't Stop the Music"
"Color of the Blues"
"White Lightning"
"Window Up Above"
"Tender Years"
"She Thinks I Still Care"
"I'll Share My World with You
"The Race Is On"
"Love Bug"
"Walk Through This World with Me"
"If My Heart Had Windows"
"Good Year for the Roses"
"Loving You Could Never Be Better"
"A Picture of Me (Without You)"
"The Grand Tour"
"The Door"
"He Stopped Loving Her Today"
"I'm Not Ready Yet"
"If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)"
"Still Doin' Time"
"Same Ole Me"
"Shine On (Shine All Your Sweet Love on Me)"
"I Always Get Lucky with You"
"Tennessee Whiskey"
"You've Still Got a Place in My Heart"
"She's My Rock"
"Hallelujah, I Love You So"
"Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes"
"The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song)"
"Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way"
"Wine Colored Roses"
"The Right Left Hand"
"I Turn to You"
"The Bird"
"I'm a One Woman Man"
"I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"
"Choices"
"Funny How Time Slips Away"
Collaborative singles
"We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" (w/ Melba Montgomery)
"Let's Invite Them Over" (w/ Melba Montgomery)
"What's in Our Heart" (w/ Melba Montgomery)
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" (w/ Melba Montgomery)
"We're Gonna Hold On" (w/ Tammy Wynette)
"Golden Ring" (w/ Tammy Wynette)
"Near You" (w/ Tammy Wynette)
"Maybellene" (w/ Johnny Paycheck)
"Two Story House" (w/ Tammy Wynette)
"You Better Move On" (w/ Johnny Paycheck)
"Yesterday's Wine" (w/ Merle Haggard)
"C.C. Waterback" (w/ Merle Haggard)
Guest singles
"A Few Ole Country Boys" (w/ Randy Travis)
"You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (w/ Patty Loveless)
"A Country Boy Can Survive (Y2K version)" (w/ Chad Brock and Hank Williams, Jr.)
"Murder on Music Row" (w/ Dierks Bentley)
Related articles
Albums discography
Singles discography
Discography with Tammy Wynette
Awards
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=He_Stopped_Loving_Her_Today&oldid=788899802"
Categories:
1980 singles
George Jones songs
Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles
Country ballads
Songs written by Bobby Braddock
United States National Recording Registry recordings
Songs written by Curly Putman
Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill
Epic Records singles
1980 songs
Hidden categories:
Articles with hAudio microformats
All articles with unsourced statements
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Singlechart usages for Billboardcountrysongs
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