Jake Brennan

Billy kept saying it was the song that would put George back on top.

They had been working on the song for a year.

George was sick of it.

The song was too sad, too cheesy, and the melody was too much like Kris Kristofferson's Help Me Make It Through the Night, which George kept mistakenly singing, whenever he showed up sober enough to sing, that is.

Billy kept having his songwriters rewrite the song over and over.

And that was another thing that was bugging George.

Now Billy had him doing a spoken word section in the middle of the song.

George hated it.

No matter how stoned or how drunk he was, he could always sing.

But speaking was a different story.

Every time he tried to record the middle section, his words came out slurred.

George slipped on his headphones as Billy queued up the first notes of the song.

He turned back to the couch and saw that D-Doodle and the old man were gone.

And as the song began to play, George closed his eyes.

He imagined he was out in a field, all alone, just him and the song.

And he opened his mouth and let all of his pain and sorrow pour into the microphone.

He sang about love, love that lasts a lifetime, love that brings only pain until the very end.

He gritted his teeth and made it through the spoken word section and finished the song with a chorus that raised goosebumps on Billy's arms.

Billy knew they'd captured it.

After nearly 18 months, He Stopped Loving Her Today was finally finished.