No Money in This Deal
1954 song performed by George Jones

"No Money in This Deal" is the debut single by country musician George Jones, released on February 18, 1954 on Starday Records.
A 1956 rerecorded version of this song would appear on Jones' fourth studio album release in May 1957.
Recording and composition
Just after a 22-year old Jones signed with Starday Records, he went to Beaumont, Texas to record for his first time. In the living room of producer Jack Starnes (co-founder of Starday), Jones and "The Western Cherokees" cut five songs, 2 unissued. The first of the recordings was "No Money in This Deal," a honky-tonk side that was penned by Jones himself. The songs displayed a great Lefty Frizzell influence, in the vocal styling of the early George and in the lyrics. The song was very similar to Frizzell's 1950 smash hit "If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time)".
Jones mentions his sisters Joyce and Loyce in the song. “Oh, it was just one of them stupid things you write at the time," Jones explained to Nick Toches in the Texas Monthly in 1994. "Bunch of junk.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “No Money in This Deal” is 1954 song performed by George Jones. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Money, Deal and song, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1954 song performed by George Jones” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22043147. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1950.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “No Money in This Deal”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow No Money in This Deal primary sources, No Money in This Deal archive and Money research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “No Money in This Deal”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “No Money in This Deal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.