A heartfelt duet of love’s awakening, “I Just Started Livin’ Today” celebrates the transformative power of finding someone who makes life feel complete.
When “I Just Started Livin’ Today” appears on George Jones & Tammy Wynette’s 1980 album Together Again, it stands as a tender, soul-stirring moment amid a collection that reunited two of country music’s most iconic voices at a unique point in their long and intertwined musical journey. While the song itself was not released as a single that charted independently, the album Together Again — released on September 22, 1980 and produced by Billy Sherrill — reached No. 26 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, reaffirming the enduring appeal of this duo even after years of personal ups and downs.
The title Together Again was in itself poignant: Jones and Wynette had divorced in 1975 after a storied marriage that had produced some of country music’s most beloved and emotionally charged duets. Their decision to record another album a decade later invited both nostalgia and curiosity, because audiences knew not just the songs, but the real-life narrative of love, heartbreak, reconciliation, and the complex friendship that endured
“I Just Started Livin’ Today” was penned by songwriters John Taylor and Robert John Jones and showcases Jones and Wynette trading verses and harmonizing in a way that feels both intimate and celebratory. Unlike so many heartbreak laments that echo with sorrow, this song speaks of a love that revives — a newfound emotional vitality brought on by the presence and devotion of another. Lines like “Empty, I was just an empty shell ’til I met you,” and “Your love is my breath of life,” convey a deep sense of transformation — the idea that meaningful love can turn mere existence into inspired living.
The lyrics move through vivid emotional imagery: hunger satisfied, unexperienced love finally discovered, lightning-bright moments of touch and dance that recall classic country storytelling — simple, evocative, and profoundly human. With each verse, Jones’s baritone and Wynette’s crystalline voice intertwine, underscoring the song’s theme: that life, in all its fullness, truly begins with the one who loves you.
This duet captures something few songs can: a sense of before and after in the life of love. Before, the narrator was an “empty shell,” wandering through days without purpose. After, each moment feels radiant, and every shared song, every dance, becomes a metaphor for the wonder of connection. It’s a feeling that many listeners — across generations — recognize: that moment when love shifts from abstract hope to embodied experience, where everyday life feels enriched in a deep, almost spiritual way.
While “I Just Started Livin’ Today” wasn’t pushed as a chart single, its placement on Together Again gives it a special resonance. The album — one of the last full collaborations between Jones and Wynette until their final reunion in the 1990s — features other highlights like “Two Story House,” which became a No. 2 Billboard country hit, illustrating how their joint work could still captivate audiences.
Listening to this track today is like stepping into a moment of musical warmth and emotional honesty. It’s not dramatic or bombastic; it doesn’t need to be. Instead, it thrives on subtlety: the way Jones’s rich phrasing glides over a lyric, the way Wynette’s voice brings out a brittle sparkle in the higher harmonies, and how their combined performance feels like a conversation — two voices expressing gratitude, awe, and the profound truth that love can change everything.
For anyone who has ever felt life take on new meaning through the presence of another, this song resonates with a deep, reflective beauty. It reminds us that love — when it arrives — transforms both the heart and the world around it, making even ordinary days feel freshly lived, newly bright, and tenderly remembered.
In the broader legacy of both artists, “I Just Started Livin’ Today” doesn’t just sit in a tracklist; it speaks to the essence of what made George Jones and Tammy Wynette such compelling duet partners. Their voices weren’t merely harmonizing — they were telling stories of life, vulnerability, and redemption through love, in a way that connects deeply with listeners’ own journeys of longing, discovery, and the enduring warmth of heartfelt connection.
Oldies Songs