Raising Musical Awareness: I Am What I Am

Does modern country music make you want to vomit? Do songs like Brad Paisley’s Water (a #1 country hit) make you question the sanity of all mankind? Do you long for a time when country music addressed the important issues, like, say, hard-liquor abuse and endless lonely torment?

If so, apply George Jones’ I Am What I Am directly to the forehead…

George Jones is a clear-voiced, booze-guzzling legend and this 1980 record is considered by many to be his comeback after years of heavy alcoholism (I think it still sounds pretty wet). It is a well-known and revered record among lovers of classic country, but hey, I’m a 19-year-old Winnipegger living 2177 kilometres from Austin, Texas – this stuff is foreign to me.

Country music has never been a big part of my aural diet. It just doesn’t suit my palette. I have to be in a certain mood to listen to it, and that mood doesn’t overwhelm me very often.

I Am What I Am, however, has somehow found its way into my CD collection and, from there, into my musical awareness. It straddles the line between sappy and sentimental as perfectly as any album I’ve heard.

The album’s most famous single (and perhaps Jones’ most beloved song), “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” epitomizes this delicate harmony.

He kept her picture on his wall
Went half crazy now and then
He still loved her through it all
Hoping she'd come back again

Kept some letters by his bed
Dated nineteen-sixty-two
He had underlined in red
Every single I love you

I won’t ruin the pay-off in the chorus; you should just hear it yourself. Unforgettably melancholy. The songwriters, Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, push the tune to the edge of saccharinity, yet Jones brings it back to reality. His voice is pure and full of truth. In the hands of a less capable singer this song could have been corny. Instead, it’s the greatest country song of all-time.

Tracks like “I’ve Aged Twenty Years in Five,” “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will),” and “I’m Not Ready Yet” also fall into the category of the heavyhearted, drunken ballad.  Along with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” these three songs form the sorrowful backbone of this gloomy album.

As pieces of music these songs are impressive, yet it is their miserable honesty and semi-confessional nature that makes them memorable. I’m not a world-weary drunkard. Nor am I an abandoned, lonely lover. For whatever reason, however, I have a visceral response to these songs. Jones captures a feeling in his voice that music listeners, of any age or level of sobriety, can engage with.

The album’s final track, “Bone Dry,” is an upbeat number that addresses the horrors of alcohol withdrawal. It’s a weird song. The lyrics are dark and humorous and it seems like George is trying to make light of his dangerous past and move on. Well, at 79 old George Jones is still singing. He must have done alright.

Listening Recommendations: Autumn, through a stereo on the porch with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red pressed to your lips.