50 Years Ago: George Jones Records Overlooked Country Classic

Many regard George Jones as the greatest country singer of all time. It’s due to the incredible studio performances he turned in with songs like “The Grand Tour” and “The Door” in 1974, and of course “He Stopped Loving Her Today” from 1980—a song that many regard as the greatest country song of all time.

But one of the most remarkable things about the George Jones legacy is how you can go up and down through the songs, albums, and eras of his catalog and find incredible moments and stellar performances, even with songs that didn’t exactly perform well on the charts, or that are not immediately named along with his other top tracks. The song “The Battle” is definitely a great example of this, which George Jones recorded 50 years ago today, October 24th, 1975.

As the eventual title track to George’s February 1976 album, “The Battle” came out in the aftermath of George’s divorce from Tammy Wynette, and at a time when his career was in a commercial slide. George’s drinking and other demons were manifesting themselves in very public ways in the mid and late ’70s. It was around this time period when the nickname “No Show Jones” began to emerge due to missed tour dates, and souring sentiment on him in the public.

But when it came to the songs and albums George Jones was recording at this time with producer Billy Sherrill, they were still second to none. It really was George Jones at his creative peak, even if it wasn’t his commercial one.

Written by Norro Wilson, Linda Kimball, and Tammy Waynette’s manager George Richey who would go on to marry Wynette later on, “The Battle” interpolates scenes from a battlefield with scenes from a lover’s spat in a bedroom in a way that’s immediately relatable to an audience. Billy Sherrill’s use of snare drum gives the song that Civil War aspect. Sherrill’s signature string/choral arrangements and modulating chords leading to a rising crescendo before a lyrical resolution allows the song to symbolize all the seasons of a lover’s quarrel in under three minutes.

Like so many of George’s most iconic songs, “The Battle” feels like a song that only George Jones could sing and make work. The way it highlights the contours of The Possum’s voice, brings the pain out in his tone, and was married to his real life experiences at the time makes it so starkly believable and deeply touching in a way that few if any other performers could achieve.

Tammy Wynette said it best in a quote included in the 1999 reissue of The Battle album that is full of songs that feel inspired by their breakup, including a song George and Tammy wrote together called “Wean Me.” “It’s funny, George and I have lived our life in our music,” Wynette remarked. “It’s all there…the fans don’t have to ask.”

It wasn’t that “The Battle” was completely overlooked in its era. The song hit #16 on the country singles chart, which wasn’t terrible. But it had to feel like a disappointment for a title track, and for a song that feels so epic-sounding today.

The membrane between love and war feels incredibly thin and delicate. Few songs capture this truth, the whims of the heart, and the swirling emotion of moments like “The Battle.”

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