Keeping Up with the Jones’ – top ten “Jones” songs

The Jones’ sure do get around in music. Whether they are having affairs, being stuck down mines, chatting up women, escaping from prison, or not really knowing what’s going on, musicians tend to want to address them in their songs.

Here is my top ten…

10 - Yer Blues – The Beatles

The eagle picks my eye

 The worm he licks my bones

I feel so suicidal

Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones

A great blues number by the Beatles, but I have marked it down because its only a fleeting Mr Jones reference. But more on Dylan’s Mr Jones later….

9 - Me and Mrs Jones – Billy Paul

Me and Mrs. Jones

We got a thing going on

We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong to let it go now

A number one hit for soul singer Billy Paul, this track has in more recent times been covered by Michael Buble. But listen to the lyrics carefully, and you realise that the singer is having an affair with Mrs Jones.

So, from  Me and Mrs Jones to….

8 - Me and Mr Jones – Amy Winehouse

Nobody stands in between me and my man

 It's me and Mr. Jones

Its Amy, sticking up with her man, from her hugely successful Back to Black album.

7 - Ghost of Travellin Jones – Ryan Bingham

Travelin' Jones
You're the Travelin' Jones
Tell me the secrets of an endless road

You may know Ryan Bingham as the guy responsible for the music in the Jeff Bridges movie Crazy Heart. His album “Mescalito” is a great album that I would highly recommend, in the alt-country genre, but I can even hear Springsteen-esque moments within it as well.

6- A Shoulder to Cry On – Mark Seymour

Are you in love again, Mr Jones?

Do you feel the magic in your bones?
 Did she play you like a charm?
 Did she burn you when she melted in your arms?

There is something about Mark Seymour’s voice that really sucks me in – its got so much power and presence that you really submit to the stories that he creates in his song. This is another great track, from his Embedded album.

5- Willie Jones – Charlie Daniels Band

Willie Jones was a man I met when I lived in Baltimore

 I was a guard and he was doing time
 In the three long years he stayed there I got to know him well
 Willie Jones he was a friend of mine

A great tale about Willie Jones, a prisoner who befriends everyone from his fellow prisoners to the staff that are supposed to be guarding him, gaining their confidence and trust before he escapes!  As Willie makes his escape, the guard that narrates the story even has a clear shot on him, but decides not to pull the trigger on his “friend” Willie.

4- Lazy Sunday – The Small Faces

Go blimey hello Mrs. Jones
How's old Bert's lumbago?  Or is it How’s your bird’s lumbago? I can’t tell

There is something about this song – almost a novelty song, but credible enough to avoid such a tag. Sung with a cockney accent, it paints a picture of English suburban life, in much the same way that many Kinks songs also do. With a catchy singalong chorus, it’s a most enjoyable listen. But, I still can’t work out what he asks Mrs Jones.

3 - Mr Jones – Counting Crows

Mr. Jones and me, we're gonna be big stars...

Having done a bit of internet research for this list, there is a common theory that the Mr Jones referred to in this song is actually a name for the Counting Crows lead singer’s penis….makes you think about the lyrics entirely differently doesn’t it?

This song also name drops Bob Dylan…..and speaking of Bob, that brings us to number two….

2- Ballad of the Thin Man – Bob Dylan

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones ?

I am probably quite quick to compliment songs,  calling them great and such like when I write about them here, but in the case of this one, I think I can truly say “what a song!” From the dramatic repetitive piano chords that drive the track, to the venom in Bob’s lyrical delivery, the song is about   a hapless Mr Jones who stumbles from one situation to the next, getting more and more confused.  The Mr Jones in question is said to be a journalist with whom Dylan got frustrated with.

1 - New York Mining Disaster – Bee Gees

Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?
Do you know what it's like on the outside?
Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones.

I love this song, and still get shivers down my spine whenever I hear it. The Bee Gees vocals on this are amazing, really conveying the grim situation the characters find themselves in. Although, I do have to say, poor Mr Jones gets a bit of a hard time here. He is told not to talk too loud, yet it seems to be the other unnamed character that does all the talking in the song!

I hope you enjoyed the list – I think something just happened here but I am not sure what it was. Perhaps you do, Mr Jones (but don’t go talking too loud!)

Please leave me a comment with your feedback – did I miss your favourite member of the Jones clan?