He Stopped Loving Her Today

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is a song recorded by American

Alan Jackson sang the song during George Jones' funeral service on May 2, 2013. George Strait and Jackson sang the song as a tribute during the 2013 CMA Awards on November 6, 2013.

Content

The song was written by

By 1980, Jones had not had a number one single in six years and, due to this and his major downward spiral into drug use following his divorce from Tammy Wynette, many critics began to write him off. Producer Billy Sherrill introduced Jones to the song in 1978^[4] but, according to Sherrill and Jones himself, the singer hated the song when he first heard it. In Bob Allen's biography of the singer, Sherrill states, "He thought it was too long, too sad, too depressing and that nobody would ever play it. He hated the melody and wouldn't learn it."^[5] Sherrill also claims that Jones frustrated him by continually singing the song to the melody of the Kris Kristofferson hit "Help Me Make It Through the Night".^[6] In the Same Ole Me retrospective, Sherrill recalls a heated exchange during one recording session: "I said 'That's not the melody!' and he said 'Yeah, but it's a better melody.' I said 'It might be—Kristofferson would think so too, it's his melody!'" In the same documentary, Sherrill claims that Jones was in such bad physical shape during this period that "the recitation was recorded 18 months after the first verse was" and added that the last words Jones said about "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was "Nobody'll buy that morbid son of a bitch".

During the song's recording, the first take did not turn out well. Prior to the second take, Wynette and her husband

To the astonishment of Jones and most others involved, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" shot to number one on the country charts in July 1980. Although he had disliked "He Stopped Loving Her Today" when it was first offered to him, Jones ultimately gave the song credit for reviving his flagging career, stating that "a four-decade career had been salvaged by a three-minute song."^[7] It was as much a tour de force for the producer as for the singer, featuring all the hallmarks of Sherrill's symphonic approach to country production, featuring cresting strings and dramatic flourishes. Had it not been for Sherrill, it is unlikely the song would have ever been recorded, such was his belief in the song, although he did share some of Jones' misgivings initially; in his 1996 memoir, Jones recalled,

Putman and Braddock killed the song's main character too soon in their early versions. Billy kept telling them to kill the guy at a different time and then have the woman come to his funeral. He gave the song to me, and I carried it for more than a year, also convinced that it needed rewriting. Billy had a notebook about an inch thick that was nothing but rewrites for "He Stopped Loving Her Today."^[8]

Critical reception

The success of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" led CBS Records to renew Jones' recording contract and sparked new interest in the singer. Jones earned the

The song became so synonymous with Jones that few singers dared to cover it. Jones recorded the song again with producer Keith Stegall for the 2005 album Hits I Missed...And One I Didn't. A recording of Johnny Cash performing the song is featured on the 2003 collection Unearthed and Trent Summar & the New Row Mob recorded it on 2006's Horseshoes & Hand Grenades.

Jones' friend Alan Jackson performed the song during Jones' funeral service at the Grand Ole Opry.^[11]

Personnel

Credits.^{[12][13][14][15]}

• George Jones – lead vocals
• The Jordanaires – backing vocals
• Millie Kirkham – backing vocals
• Pig Robbins
  – piano
• Pete Drake – pedal steel guitar
• Charlie McCoy – harmonica
• Jerry Carrigan – drums
• unknown – acoustic and electric guitars, bass, strings

Production staff

• Billy Sherrill – producer
• Lou Bradley – engineer
• Ron “Snake” Reynolds – engineer

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

Bibliography

• Allen, Bob (1996). George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend. St Martin's Press.
  ISBN 978-0312956981
  .
• Jones, George; Carter, Tom (1996). I Lived to Tell it All. Villard.
  ISBN 978-0679438694
  .

• The Story Behind The Song