Song Information
“Just One More” is one of the earliest and most emotionally raw songs in George Jones’ long career. Written by George Jones himself, the song was recorded in August 1956 and released later that year by Starday Records as a single. It became one of Jones’ first hits, reaching #3 on the Billboard Country & Western chart.
This song stands out not only for its chart success but for the fact that it was one of the first recordings to define the “hard-drinking, self-destructive” image that George Jones would come to personify in later years. It was also among the first songs to showcase his deep emotional delivery — a style that would go on to influence countless country singers.
“Just One More” is often considered a cornerstone of the honky-tonk subgenre and laid the foundation for Jones’ reputation as a powerful interpreter of sorrow, regret, and brokenness. The song was produced by Pappy Daily, who would go on to become Jones’ longtime producer and manager.
Song Content
“Just One More” is a lonesome, aching ballad sung from the perspective of a man who turns to alcohol to escape the pain of lost love. He sits in a bar, drowning his sorrow, and asks the bartender for “just one more” drink to help him forget. But, as the song progresses, it becomes clear that “just one more” is not just a drink — it’s a cycle, a habit, a slow unraveling of someone who has nothing left to hold onto.
The lyrics are sparse but emotionally powerful. Jones doesn’t embellish — he simply sings of drinking and hurting, with raw honesty. His voice is soft, almost whispering at times, conveying the weariness of someone who is tired of pretending everything is okay. The refrain, “Just one more / and then another,” drives home the hopelessness.
The setting is classic honky-tonk: a man alone at a bar, a bottle as his only companion, haunted by memories. But what makes the song so timeless is how universally human it feels. Whether or not the listener drinks, they understand the desire to escape pain — even if just for a moment.
Explanation of the Curious Issue Raised
At first listen, “Just One More” seems like a straightforward drinking song. But it raises a deeper, darker question: What happens when escape becomes a way of life?
The singer is not celebrating. He’s not partying. He’s hiding. The song doesn’t glorify drinking — it exposes it as a coping mechanism. The line “I’ll keep on drinking until I can’t even think of you” isn’t hopeful; it’s tragic. The man isn’t healing — he’s numbing. And worse, he knows it.
This is what makes “Just One More” stand apart from many other country drinking songs of the 1950s. It doesn’t offer a solution. It doesn’t end on a redemptive note. It leaves the listener suspended in that dark corner of the bar, sitting with a man who is slowly giving up — one drink at a time.
George Jones, who would later battle alcoholism in real life, sings this song with such conviction that it feels autobiographical — even though he was just 25 at the time of recording. The song becomes a haunting prophecy, and that’s what makes it so compelling. It isn’t just a story. It’s a warning — whispered through a glass and sung through the voice of a man who lived it before he even fully knew it.
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Lyrics
Put the bottle on the table
Let it stay by till I’m not able
To see your face in everyplace that I go
I’ve been sitting here so long
Just remembering that you are gone
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you’re still on my mind
One drink, just one more and then another
I’ll keep drinking it won’t matter
I’ll just remember that I once had her
I don’t know why I sit and cry everyday
I’ve been trying to forget
But I haven’t stopped as yet
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you’re still on my mind
One drink, just one more and then another
Put the bottle on the table
Let it stay by till I’m not able
To see your face in everyplace that I go
I’ve been sitting here so long
Just remembering that you are gone
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you’re still on my mind
One drink, just one more and then another