One of the best parts of the recent Ken Burns series Country Music was not even a part of the broadcast. One of the extras that was edited out of the final version of the series was a detailed segment about “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the George Jones classic that many consider the greatest country song of all time.
The segment features stories from many of the people behind the song. Unfortunately, George Jones passed away in 2013, but we get the story from songwriters Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman as well as from producer Billy Sherrill and others. Below are 11 things we learned about “He Stopped Loving Her Today.
1. “One of the songwriters had a reputation for killing off characters in his songs. Songwriter Bobby Braddock started writing the song and then took it to Curly Putman for help in finishing the song. Putman was known for writing songs where someone dies, such as “Green, Green Grass of Home.”
2. The song took a long time to write. Braddock and Putman started working together during the Spring of 1977, then took a break. They finished the first version of the song in Fall of 1977.
3. Braddock initially was not too impressed with the song or the character. When they finished the song, Braddock wrote in his journal that on a scale of one to ten, the song was a seven. One thing he never liked about the song was that the main character was not a good role model because he could never move on.
4. Someone recorded the song before George Jones. Johnny Russell recorded the song for two different labels, but it was never released.
5. The song as originally written revealed the main character’s death too early. Braddock and Putman wrote the song with the chorus about the character being dead occurring after the first verse.
6. Producer Billy Sherrill got the songwriters to change the song. Producer Billy Sherrill had Braddock and Putman rewrite the song to move the disclosure of the character’s death until nearer the end. And he also got them to add a verse about the woman coming to the funeral.
7. George Jones initially did not like the song and kept singing the wrong music. During early recording sessions, Jones kept singing the song to the music of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
8. The song took a long time to record. Between the recording of Jones’s opening line of the song and the recording of his final words, nearly a year had passed. The takes were never right, and then one day Jones came in and said he had it figured out. And then he nailed the recording.
9. The recording gave the producer goosebumps. When Jones finally recorded the spoken recitation, it gave Billy Sherrill goosebumps.
10. Backing vocalist Millie Kirkham knew what the song needed. Vocalist Millie Kirkham was known for her ability to hit extremely high notes, and Sherrill originally planned for her to sing really high on the song. But she realized that the song needed something more subtle, so she forwent her trademark high notes and did something more moving and haunting, stunning everyone in the recording session.
11. The song was song of the year for two years. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” won the Country Music Awards Song of the Year for 1980 and for 1981. And it also helped Jones win his first Male Vocalist of the Year award.
And that’s the Story Behind the Song.
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