Dolly Parton’s famed ballad, “Jolene,” was “loosely based on a little bit of truth” by a woman who had a crush on the singer’s late husband, Carl Dean.
Dean’s death was announced by the singer on Monday, March 3. He was 82. Although he remained out of the spotlight for decades, he notably inspired one of her most iconic songs, “Jolene.”
The singer’s October 1973 hit song chronicles one woman’s jealousy surrounding her significant other’s interest in another woman. But the “real” Jolene didn’t try to “take” Dean. Instead, she had a flirtatious banter with him when she helped him at the bank.
“[The] song was loosely based on a little bit of truth,” she said during the 2014 Glastonbury Festival, per The Independent. “I wrote that years ago when my husband… was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be.”
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
“She had everything I didn’t, like legs — you know, she was about 6 feet tall. And had all that stuff that some little short, sawed-off honky like me don’t have,” Parton told NPR. “So no matter how beautiful a woman might be, you’re always threatened by certain… You’re always threatened by other women, period.”
As for whether or not that bank teller was named Jolene, Parton confirmed she decided to use the name of a young fan.
“One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl — she was probably 8 years old at the time,” Parton told NPR.
“And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph,” Parton continued. “I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.’ ”
Despite the singer’s frustration with the bank teller’s flirtatious nature with Dean, Parton thanked “Jolene” during the 2014 Glastonbury Festival.
“I want you folks to know, though, that something good can come from anything. Had it not been for that woman I would never have written ‘Jolene’ and I wouldn’t have made all that money, so thank you, Jolene.”
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“Jolene,” which was placed No. 63 on Rolling Stone‘s 2024 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, became an iconic song in Parton’s discography and country music. The song was the first single and title track of her 1973 album of the same name.
The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame. It was nominated for the Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy award twice. The first time for the original recording in 1975, and the next year for a live recording.
The song has been covered in various languages by more than 30 singers in its 52-year history — including The White Stripes, Olivia Newton-John, Miley Cyrus, Mindy Smith and many more. Beyoncé covered the song for her 2024 album, Cowboy Carter, and she asked Parton to provide the cover’s interlude, titled “Dolly P.”
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