We’re going back almost 35 years for this week’s Throwback Thursday.
This song came at what might be considered the low point of George’s personal life.
It was a perplexing time because George was back on top of the country world. He Stopped Loving Her Today was a huge hit in 1980 and it sparked a run of hits for George, but he was still in the depths of drug and alcohol abuse.
It really was a question of whether he would live much longer with the lifestyle he was leading. He would turn it around a few years later and that would lead to more hits throughout the ’80s and even a little into the ’90s.
This song, Same Ole Me, was the title track to the followup album that had He Stopped on it. The album came out in late 1981. The lead single, Still Doin’ Time, went to number one and Same Ole Me reached #5 in 1982. George went on to have more hits during that time and Same Ole Me can get lost in the shuffle, but I think it’s one of George’s best.
It’s a look at the love two people have had together. Things have changed around them, but for all the things that matter, like their love for each other, they are the same. They’re still the same two people that love each other more than anything in the world.
And the song has a really simple, but really catchy melody. And despite being in dire straights with his life, George nails the vocals like only he can. You can hear the twang and emotion coming out. You believe all the words.
It’s a classic that often gets overlooked in the great career of Jones.
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