"Take Me" is a song written by George Jones and Leon Payne. Jones originally released the song on the Musicor label in 1966 and scored a No. 8 hit. However, the song is best remembered for being the first single release by Jones and his third wife Tammy Wynette in 1971 on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. That version was also a top ten hit, peaking at No. 9.

Recording and composition

Jones wrote "Take Me" with Leon Payne, who is perhaps best known for his hits " I Love You Because", " You've Still Got a Place in My Heart", and for the two songs of his

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

recorded: " Lost Highway" and " They'll Never Take Her Love from Me". In his autobiography ''I Lived to Tell It All'', Jones recalled, "When I was at Musicor, I might record an entire album in three hours, a practice that violated the musician's union's rules. I'd go through one take...Yet I recorded some of my biggest songs in that casual fashion, including 'Take Me'..."

Tammy Wynette

The song took on a whole new poignancy when Jones cut it with his third wife, country star Tammy Wynette. Although Jones and Wynette had been married since 1969 and had toured together for years, they had not been able to record together due to record contract constraints, although Tammy had sung backup on a handful of George's songs while he was on the Musicor label and had even appeared on the cover of his 1969 LP ''I'll Share My World with You''. Jones eventually broke his contract with Musicor at a hefty sum so he could join Tammy at Epic Records and record with her producer Billy Sherrill. "Take Me" became the couple's first single release together and climbed to No. 9, kicking off a remarkable run for the duo that would last beyond their divorce in 1975. In the liner notes to the 2005 Sony reissue of '' My Very Special Guests'', Jones is quoted, "When we first started doing duets, she had a hard time following me because I don't open my mouth much when I sing. She had to learn to read my lips!" Jones performed the song with Shelby Lynne at the ''George Jones and Friends: 50th Anniversary Concert'' in 2007. While appearing on ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...

'' with Alison Krauss and T-Bone Burnett to promote the album '' Raising Sand'', former Led Zeppelin vocalist

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

spoke of being overwhelmed when he had recently heard the duet version of "Take Me" for the first time, with Burnett adding, "George Jones and Tammy Wynette doing 'Take Me' is sublime. That's about as good as music gets."

References

{{George Jones and Tammy Wynette 1965 songs 1966 singles 1971 singles George Jones songs Tammy Wynette songs Songs written by George Jones Songs written by Leon Payne Male vocal duets Song recordings produced by Pappy Daily