Dolly Parton, 76, is estimated to have written 3,000 songs, with some 450 released by her and others. But nothing points to retirement. On November 18, she released the album Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection from. That is why NU.nl lists five of her hits with the story behind them.
Jolene
appeared in 1973 Jolene, the song about the woman with brown-red hair, ivory skin and emerald green eyes. Later, Parton admitted that the song is based on a true story. “Another woman flirted with my husband Carl Thomas Dean. She had everything I didn’t have,” Parton said in an interview with NPR in 2008.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I’m begging of you please don’t take my man. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Please don’t take him just because you can.
The name Jolene came from another redhead. When Parton met a beautiful girl at one of her concerts, she asked for her name. “She replied ‘Jolene’ and I thought it was such a beautiful name that I named a song after it.”
The lyrics of the song are simple and only have 200 words, including 31 times the word Jolene. Yet, with more than 447 million streams on Spotify, it is Parton’s most listened to song.
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I Will Always Love You
Many people know the number I Will Always Love You as the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard from 1992 starring Whitney Houston. But Parton already wrote the song in 1973 for her then colleague and mentor Porter Wagoner. With Wagoner, Parton sang duets on TV, in the The Porter Wagoner Show. After working together for seven years, the singer wrote I Will Always Love You as a farewell song for Wagoner. It appeared on the album a year later Jolene.
If I should stay, I would only be in your way. So I’ll go, but I know I’ll think of you every step of the way.
Elvis Presley was very interested in the song, but the two artists did not agree with the music rights. “I wanted so badly to hear Elvis sing that song. I cried all night,” the singer said in an interview with W Magazine. “But I didn’t want to just give away the rights to the song. These songs are mine, they’re like my kids. And they have to take care of me when I’m old.”
“But when Whitney recorded the song, I was glad I stood my ground.” It was Kevin Costner, the other lead in The Bodyguard, who suggested Parton’s song to Houston. It became the best-selling single in the UK in 1992 and in the US in 1993. The song won two Grammys for ‘Recording of the Year’ and ‘Best Performance by a Female in the Pop category’.
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Faith
Faith is a dance song from 2019 with a Dutch touch. This song is a collaboration between the Swedish music duo Galantis, Dolly Parton and the Dutch producer and singer Mr. Probz.
The producer of the song, David Saint Fleur, contacted Parton to sound her out about the collaboration. “As soon as I heard the song, I thought: yes! It’s about optimism and believing in a higher power. That’s exactly what humanity needs in these dark times,” Parton told music magazine Rollingstone.
When you don’t know who you are. I will find you so easily. Don’t you worry, whenever you need me. Have a little faith in me.
“I ‘Dolly-fied’ the song a bit and added a little more spirituality to the lyrics.” Parton and Mr. Probz both took on vocals on the song, which is a version of Have a Little Faith in Me by John Hiatt.
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9 to 5
The number 9 to 5 wrote Parton for the film of the same name, which also marked her acting debut. Actress Jane Fonda, who also stars in 9 to 5, approached Parton for a role in the film. “It’s a great opportunity, but I’ll only do it if I can also do the title music,” Parton had said. And so she wrote the song during the recordings, which was released in 1980 a month before the film premiere.
The song is about working women who say they are overworked, undervalued and underpaid. It was a statement about gender inequality in the workplace. Both the movie and the song were inspired by the organization 9to5. The organization, founded in 1973 and still active today, consists of women’s activists who are committed to a better position of women in the labor market.
Working 9 to 5. What a way to make a living. Barely getting by. It’s all taking and no giving.
The powerful lyrics combined with the sound effects – the sound of a typewriter and other ‘office noises’ – used in the music propelled the song to number one in the 1981 Billboard Hot 100. More importantly, it earned the singer a prestigious Oscar.
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Islands in the Stream
The number Islands in the Stream, which is named after a book by Ernest Hemingway, was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, better known as the BeeGees. Where the brothers previously mainly wrote disco music, the song was Islands in the Stream initially intended as an R&B song for singer Marvin Gaye. But it became a country pop song for singer Kenny Rogers.
You do something to me that I can’t explain. Hold me closer and I feel no pain. Every beat of my heart. We’ve got something going on.
The song is about true love. When Rogers recorded the song in the studio, he was not happy with the end result. “We need Dolly Parton,” Barry Gibb is said to have said. Coincidentally, Parton was present in the building at the time of the recording. She recorded the song with Rogers on the spot and with success: the song was at the top of the charts for a long time in 1983.
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