Jones addresses ladies-man rep, 52-year marriage

[March 14, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tom Jones is not one to kiss and tell, but he's singing for the first time about his reputation as a ladies man. That, and how grateful he is that his wife stuck by him for 52 years.

Jones, who for the first time co-wrote some of the songs on his latest CD, sings on "The Road" that "I have felt weakness when I was strong, felt sweetness when I was wrong." But Jones also sings to his wife Linda that "the road always leads back to you."

Jones says his wife didn't ask a lot of questions about who he was with on the road, where she never wanted to join him lest she see how women threw themselves (and, famously, their undergarments) at him.

The bottom line, he says, is that she told him she'd be satisfied, "as long as you come home to me, as long as you don't go running off with somebody."

For their recent 52nd anniversary, Jones says he sent Linda 3 dozen of her favorite red roses since he was on the road, where he'll stay through April performing at mostly small clubs to promote "24 Hours," his first CD released in the U.S. in 15 years.

[Associated Press]

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