The King Is Gone (So Are You)

"The King Is Gone (So Are You)" is a novelty song written by Roger D. Ferris and recorded by American country singer George Jones.

Background

The song is about a man who uses the occasion of a breakup to open a bottle of Jim Beam which is shaped like Elvis Presley, the head of the deceased singer forming the bottle top. He further prepares for an evening of drinking by soaking the label off a Flintstones jelly bean jar in order to better use it as a glass. The jar, like the bourbon bottle, is in the shape of a personage: the fictional cartoon character Fred Flintstone. Filling the label-less jar up to "Fred's pelvis"—the middle of the jar—he drinks so much that, at 10:00pm, he begins to talk with each character (Fred and Elvis), regarding them both as his drinking buddies. The song continues by saying that the conversation eventually turns to women, with Elvis advising to, "find 'em young" and Fred saying, "Ol' fashioned girls are fun." This first phrase is an allusion to Presley's having started a relationship with his wife, Priscilla Anne Wagner, when she was 14 years old.

It became a live favorite for Jones and was included on the 1994 Sony box set The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country.

Release history

Initially, the composition had been titled "Ya Ba Da Ba Do (So Are You)" but the song's publisher changed the title to avoid a possible legal entanglement; early pressings of the LP contain this original title. The single marked the end of Jones' remarkable run at the top of the Billboard country singles chart, where he had been a constant presence for over thirty years; he would not make the Top 25 again with a solo single until 1993's "Hi-Tech Redneck."

Chart performance

References