George Jones – If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me

George Jones was in the midst of one of country music’s most dramatic career revivals when he recorded “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” in April 1980. Fresh off the massive success of “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Jones entered the studio for his album *I Am What I Am*, released on Epic Records that September. The project marked his return to commercial strength after years of personal turmoil, and the new single became another signature statement about the toll of hard living and lost love.

Songwriters Harlan Sanders and Rick Beresford crafted the number as a raw confession of a man who drinks to erase the memory of a broken relationship. The narrator stumbles from bar to bar, hoping alcohol will dull the pain, only to realize that the bottle is no match for the past. Lines such as “The bars are all closed, it’s four in the morning / I must have shut ’em all down” and the chorus “If drinkin’ don’t kill me, her memory will” capture the cycle of despair without romanticizing it.

Producer Billy Sherrill guided the session on April 16, 1980, at Columbia Studio in Nashville. Sherrill’s countrypolitan touch—subtle strings and polished rhythm—framed Jones’s voice without softening its edge. At age forty-eight, Jones delivered the vocal with weary precision, drawing on his own well-documented battles with alcohol and the personal demons that had nearly ended his career in the late 1970s. The arrangement stayed true to traditional country while fitting the smoother sound that had revived his radio presence.

Epic released the single in January 1981 as the third release from *I Am What I Am*, with “Brother to the Blues” on the B-side. It climbed to number eight on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart and also reached number twenty-five on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks survey. The album itself peaked at number seven on the Top Country Albums chart—Jones’s first top-ten LP in five years—and spent time on the Billboard 200 at number 132. The project helped solidify his comeback and kept him visible on country radio into the new decade.

The song’s themes hit close to home for many listeners familiar with Jones’s life. He had spent nearly thirty years fighting alcoholism, missing shows, and facing public scandals. In live performances and on national television, Jones sometimes altered the final line to “Tammy’s memory will,” a pointed reference to his ex-wife Tammy Wynette. The change added an extra layer of candor that fans immediately recognized and appreciated.

Although it did not reach the heights of “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” earned steady airplay and became a staple in Jones’s live sets. It appeared on numerous compilations over the years and reminded audiences that even in his comeback phase, Jones remained unmatched when singing about the darker corners of life and love. The track illustrated his ability to turn personal hardship into honest, unflinching country music that connected across generations.

Decades later, the recording stands as a key chapter in Jones’s late-period catalog. It showed the Possum at a point where his voice still carried the same emotional weight that had defined him since the 1950s, while the industry around him continued to evolve. The song, like the album that housed it, helped keep traditional country storytelling alive at a time when many veterans were being pushed aside.