I Get Lonely in a Hurry

Background

The album marks the first appearance of "The Race Is On", which later became one of Jones's biggest hits and remained a concert staple throughout his long career. According to Bob Allen's book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Don Rollins composed the song one day after visiting the Turf Paradise Race Track in Phoenix, Arizona. It features tongue-twisting lyrics that use the fast-paced images of a horse race to describe a broken relationship. Allen writes of Jones's memorable vocal: "By gleefully bending and stretching the notes and singing, at times, slightly ahead of or behind the song's fast-clipped meter, he embellished it with a subtle sense of tension and release that perfectly complemented the rapid-fire cascading effect of the song's lyrics." The album also contains "She's Mine", which would become a top ten hit for Jones on Musicor in 1969, and "Love's Gonna Live Here", a song written and popularized by Buck Owens, who was one of the few country singers who rivalled Jones's success in the 1960s.

Reception

I Get Lonely in a Hurry peaked at number 10 on the Billboard country albums chart. AllMusic calls Jones performance on "Book of Memories" "haunting".

Track listing

1. "I Get Lonely in a Hurry" (George Jones, Johnny Mathis, Virginia Franks)
2. "Book of Memories" (Bobby Austin)
3. "I'm Gonna Change Everything" (Alex Zanetis)
4. "The Race Is On" (George Jones, Don Rollins)
5. "Least of All" (Sonny James, Carole Smith)
6. "Gonna Have a Little Talk with You" (Oney Wheeler)
7. "I've Been Known to Cry" (Eddie Hallowell)
8. "Love's Gonna Live Here" (Buck Owens)
9. "Gold and Silver" (Shirley Legate)
10. "Holiday for Love" (Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce, Wayne P. Walker)
11. "She's Mine" (George Jones, Jack Ripley)
12. "Where Does a Little Tear Come From" (Marge Barton, Johnny McRae)