Dolly Parton celebrates the 52nd anniversary of her immortal song Joleneand she does it in true Dolly style—with a nod to her roots and an honest throwback.
On October 15, the country music legend, 79, posted a throwback video of herself performing the iconic song, captioning it simply, “52 years of Jolene!”
Released in 1973, “Jolene” was inspired by a real-life incident involving Parton’s late husband, Carl Dean, and a red-haired bank teller who showed little interest in him. “I’ve got this terrible crush on my husband,” Barton said. NPR In 2008.
“And he loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention…so it’s a really innocent song all around, but it sounds like a terrible song.”
The song’s title came from a young fan Parton met at a concert. “Well,” I said, “you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” So what’s your name?” And she said, “Jolene.” And I said, “Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. That’s beautiful. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that,” she recalls.
Jolene It became a signature track in Dolly’s career, earning Grammy nominations and a 63rd consecutive No. 1 spot Rolling Stone 2024 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
It has been covered more than 30 times, including by Beyoncé Cowboy Carterwhere Parton also appeared in an interlude. More than five decades later, the song’s emotional depth still resonates deeply.