Bob Wills' songbook — which, of course, includes tunes popularized, not written, by Wills — is one of the most resilient in country music, ranking alongside Hank Williams in popularity and its ability to be reinterpreted in continuously fresh fashions. So, it comes as no surprise that George Jones, one of the greatest singers in country, did a bang-up job with his tribute album, the 1962 platter George Jones Sings Bob Wills. Where some Wills tributes are faithful to a fault, Jones, as produced by Pappy Daily, plays these songs as hardcore honky tonk, occasionally informed by Western swing, but only as a coloring device. He is singing these songs in his signature pure country style, and the results are pretty terrific, not only because this is the hardest country he cut at United Artists, fueled by a crackerjack band playing at its peak, but because these are tremendous songs that are open to such a sly reinterpretation as given to them by Jones and Daily. Furthermore, in addition to the standards — "Bubbles in My Beer," "Faded Love," "Roly Poly," "Take Back to Tulsa," "Time Changes Everything," and "San Antonio Rose" — he finds a few obscurities in "The Warm Red Wine," "Worried Mind," and "Silver Dew on the Bluegrass Tonight," which help accentuate his own spin on Wills' music. This record is so good, you're inclined to forgive Jones for sitting out the last two songs and letting the bandmembers play since, after all, they, like the Possum or any other musician, sound at their best when playing the music of Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. And that's why this is a small treasure in George Jones' discography.
GEORGE JONES
SINGS BOB WILLS (United Artists UAS-6221)
December/1962
Produced by Pappy Daily
Recorded:
Oct/1962, Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville
A vision of someone who loved me brings along silent tears to my eyes
Oh I know that my life has been a failure just watching the bubbles in my beer [ steel - fiddle ]
I'm seeing the road that I've travelled a road paved with heartaches and tears
And I'm seeing the past that I've wasted while watching the bubbles in my beer
As I think of the heart that I've broken and the chances I know have passed me by
And the dreams that I've made now are empty as empty as the bubbles in my beer
**********
I miss you darling more and more every day as heaven would miss the stars above
With every heartbeat I still think of you and remember our faded love [ fiddle ]
I think of the past and all the pleasures we've had as I watch the mating of the dove
It was in the springtime that you said goodbye I remember our faded love
Take me back to Tulsa I'm too young to marry
Take me back to Tulsa I'm too young to marry [ steel ]
Little bee sucks the blossom big bee gives the honey
Dark man raise the cotton white man gets the money
Take me back to Tulsa... [ fiddle ]
Walk and talk to Suzy walk and talk to Suzy
Walk and talk to Suzy walk and talk to Suzy
We always wear a great big smile we never do look sour
Travel all over the country playing by the hour
I gave you a ring I gave you a home you promised me love that you'd never wrong
I bought you fine clothes and I bought you wine but all that I got was a worried mind [ fiddle ]
And when I was down you've just left me there I needed you so but you didn't care
You found a new love and a home so fine but all that I've got is a worried mind
**********
Silver dew on the blue grass tonight
How it shines in the moon silver light
In the days that used to be how I wish that you could see
Silver dew on the blue grass tonight [ fiddle ]
Star of love high above shining bright
Knows the wish that I'm wishing tonight
And you'll bring him back I know to the one that loves him so
Star of love high above shining bright
Silver dew on the blue grass tonight...
**********
Moon and all your splendor know only my heart
Call back my Rose Rose of San Antone
Lips so sweet and tender like petals falling apart
Speak once again of my love my own
Broken song empty words I know still live in my heart all alone
For that moonlit pass by the Alamo and Rose my Rose of San Antone [ fiddle - steel ]
Moon and all your splendor...
**********
