4 Unbelievable George Jones Songs That Weren’t Big Hits, but Should Have Been

When people think of George Jones songs, they likely think of songs like “He Stopped Loving Her Today“, “White Lightning”, “The Grand Tour”, and more. But there are several more songs released by Jones, songs that weren’t big hits, but are still really, really good.

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We found four George Jones songs that are worth listening to, over and over again.

“Small Time Laboring Man”

“Small Time Laboring Man”, written by Jones and Earl “Peanut” Montgomery, came out as a single in 1968, on Jones’ Cup Of Loneliness album. The song is a bit of an anthem for hard workers, a message that still resonates today, 57 years later.

“A dollar an hour, eight hours a day,” Jones sings. “Will soon make a young man wither away / I work for my family with my wrinkled hands / For I’m a small time laboring man.”

“Small Time Laboring Man” barely cracked the Top 40. But it did receive one important distinction: Bob Dylan later told Rolling Stone it was one of his favorite songs released that year.

“Choices”

“Choices,” out in 1999, comes toward the end of Jones’ decades-long career. The song, which peaked in the Top 30, is on his Cold Hard Truth album. Billy Yates and Mike Curtis penned the song.

“Choices” begins with “I’ve had choices / Since the day that I was born / There were voices / That told me right from wrong / If I had listened / No, I wouldn’t be here today / Living and dying / With the choices I’ve made.”

Interestingly, Jones originally passed on the song when Curtis played it for him. But when someone else played it for him later, Jones immediately asked to record it.

George Jones was asked to perform an abbreviated version of the song at the 1999 CMA Awards. Jones declined the offer, unwilling to just do a shortened version. During the live broadcast, Alan Jackson unexpectedly stopped performing his “Pop A Top” single to perform “Choices”, as an homage to Jones, instead.

“Where Grass Won’t Grow”

Montgomery also penned “Where Grass Won’t Grow”. The song is the title track of Jones’ 1970 album, and the only single on the record.

“Where Grass Won’t Grow” says, “She was a hard working woman true as one could be / But then one year death was going ’round and swiftly took its toll / Janie had to go / Now she lies asleep under ground so poor that grass won’t grow.”

It may not have been a big hit for Jones, but he liked it enough to record it again. Jones sings it with Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on his 1994 The Bradley Barn Sessions record.

“I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair”

Yates also writes “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair”, which Jones released on his 1992 Walls Can Fall album. The song is a bit of a personal anthem for Jones, who was already more than 60 years old when it came out.

“I don’t need your rockin’ chair / Your Geritol or your Medicare,” Jones sings. “But I still got neon in my veins / This gray hair don’t mean a thing.”

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