Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Playing Possum



I was cruising down the road on my lawnmower the other day, looking for a bottle of Jack, and wondered to myself why I hadn't done a proper raving post on old George Jones. Then I realized that, well hell, everyone knows all about George Jones. What could I possibly say about the man in a few short paragraphs that others hadn't spent whole articles and books detailing? Nothing really. Man's a legend, a bonafide living archetype. And thee golden voice of Country and Western. Figger I aint worth my salt if I don't at least give Jones a passing mention.

The list of classic Jones songs goes on and on to infinity, with big smash hits all over the damn map, and tales to tell. Here's a few swell tunes that may not fall into the top-of-the-pops chapter of Jones' life story, but I'm quite keen on them. More trash than country balladeering. "Tall Tall Trees" is a favorite no matter who does it. "Old King Kong" is, well, a classic in an alternate universe. And "Yabba Dabba Do" is the requisite drinking song, and a bit less silly than the title would suggest.

George Jones: Tall Tall Trees (mp3)

George Jones: Old King Kong (mp3)

George Jones: Yabba Dabba Do (mp3)

Thanks for considerin' buying your George Jones at your local independent record store. Gonna get Semi-regular on Friday.

7 comments:

countrygrrl said...

excellent ...he is one hell of a rebel raiser barn stormin hee haw countrry hombre...thanks for posting these fab tracks, i have a candle lit for Tammy and maybe you will post some of their duets sometime......

Happy In Bag said...

Giants still walk among us.

Maxim said...

"Last night I broke the seal on a Jim Beam decanter that looks like Elvis...." That used to be my party piece, many years ago, and may be again. Thanks for reminding me of how great that song is, and how lucky we are to live in the same world as No-Show George Jones.

Billy K said...

Hey - "Yabba Dabba Do" is one of my favorite George Jones songs, but let's give some props to The Geezinslaws who wrote it and did a damn fine verson as well.

OK, what's with this Box.net crap? I can't download anything. (And yes, I signed up for their crappy "service" despite my better judgement.) Is there something wrong with YSI?

Brian K Reese said...

Box.net's down for a couple days while they update and redo their site...i think they're actually increasing what they offer. Anyway, it should be back up and running shortly i think.

Anonymous said...

Ain't no woman gonna make a George Jones outta me! (Daniel Johnston).

Anonymous said...

what i cannot figure is why all of 'Possum's best albums have yet to see the light of day of proper CD re-issue; hell, i'd been happy with two-to-a-disc (like the new Merle Haggard reish's). i mean, the late-60s/early-70s albums procuded by Billy Shirley must come out! there is NO good reason why a good ol' guy or gal can't pick up a copy of "A Picture of Me Without You" at their local music shop!