Speaker 1: I guess what mango was that. Well, all right, so
Speaker 1: you remember how a while back I told you that
Speaker 1: we'd won this big prize in an event we went to.
Speaker 1: In fact, the whole family had won a trip to Dollywood. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course I do. I feel like every month I
Speaker 1: ask you when you guys are gonna make the trip. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it just didn't feel right to go until
Speaker 1: I felt like it was an expert on all things
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton. I mean, it's not like you have to
Speaker 1: know everything about Dolly to ride a roller coaster, but
Speaker 1: it just seemed like a good excuse to learn more
Speaker 1: about somebody who's been such a superstar for you know,
Speaker 1: not only our entire lives, but several decades before that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and we've actually been talking about doing this episode
Speaker 1: for a while now. Dolly Parton's obviously a legend. I
Speaker 1: think what I find most fascinating about her is that
Speaker 1: it's really difficult to find an artist who has appealed
Speaker 1: to so many different types of people for so many decades.
Speaker 1: It's really impressive. So, you know, in preparation for my
Speaker 1: family trip to Dollywood, because that's really what this is
Speaker 1: all about, we thought you know today was the day
Speaker 1: to talk about how Dolly became Dolly, and how she
Speaker 1: found inspiration for some of her most well known songs,
Speaker 1: and of course which African nation came to love Dolly most.
Speaker 1: So let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm
Speaker 1: joined by my good friend Manges Ticketer and on the
Speaker 1: other side of the soundproof glass wearing this ruby rhine
Speaker 1: stone vest and the biggest blondest wig. I really think
Speaker 1: it's the biggest one I have ever seen. That's our
Speaker 1: friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And you know, I do
Speaker 1: have to give him credit for his boldness because that's
Speaker 1: a tough look to pull off, and believe me, he
Speaker 1: does not pull it off. But it is a lovely attribute.
Speaker 1: So Tristan, I'm sure Dolly would be more than honored well.
Speaker 1: And when you get down to it, that's really what
Speaker 1: today's episode is all about. It's honoring Dolly Parton because
Speaker 1: at this point it's safe to say that Dolly is
Speaker 1: something of an American icon. I mean, just think about it,
Speaker 1: like she's been in the spotlight for the better part
Speaker 1: of six decades now, and during that time, she's made
Speaker 1: a name for herself, you know, not only as a
Speaker 1: prolific singer and songwriter, but as a businesswoman, a humanitarian,
Speaker 1: and of course even a theme park owner. But you know, really,
Speaker 1: the thing that earns Dolly her American icon status is
Speaker 1: the fact that she achieved all of her success in
Speaker 1: spite of, or perhaps because of, her markedly humble beginnings.
Speaker 1: So today we're going to look past that platinum, blonde
Speaker 1: wig and any of the gaudy outfits that make Dolly
Speaker 1: so instantly recognizable, and instead we're going to focus on
Speaker 1: that highly skilled performer beneath all of that glitz and glamour.
Speaker 1: That's right, and before we get into just how humbled
Speaker 1: all these beginnings, where I thought I'd give some perspective
Speaker 1: by running down a few of her major accomplishments. So
Speaker 1: for starters, she's been dominated for forty seven Grammy Awards,
Speaker 1: eight of which she's won. She's also been nominated for
Speaker 1: two Oscars, two Emmy's and one Tony definitely E gotting there.
Speaker 1: She's uh in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, She's in
Speaker 1: the Grammy Hall of Fame. She's also in the Country
Speaker 1: Music Hall of Fame. And and lastly, she's composed more
Speaker 1: than three thousand songs in her life and hold over
Speaker 1: a hundred million albums worldwide. That's just phenomenal. It's just incredible.
Speaker 1: When you lay it all out like that, it's hard
Speaker 1: to think of anyone who's pulled off anything of of
Speaker 1: that magnitude in the music world. But you know, maybe
Speaker 1: what's most impressive to me is that even at seventy two,
Speaker 1: Dolly really shows no signs of stopping. Not only she's
Speaker 1: still recording and touring on a regular basis, I mean
Speaker 1: she's still breaking records and racking up awards. Just looking
Speaker 1: at a couple of these records. It was just this
Speaker 1: past January, Dolly was recognized for not one, but two
Speaker 1: Guinness World Records. Now, the first of these was for
Speaker 1: being the female artist with the most hits on Billboard
Speaker 1: Hot Country Song Chart. This is a whopping one hundred
Speaker 1: and six one six songs that hit that chart. But
Speaker 1: the second of these records was for having the most
Speaker 1: decades with a top twenty hit on the same chart. Now,
Speaker 1: all told, Dollies landed twenty top hits on the chart
Speaker 1: that are spread out across six decades, and that's actually
Speaker 1: enough to beat out other country legends like George Jones,
Speaker 1: Reb mc attire and even Elvis himself. That's crazy. So obviously,
Speaker 1: now we have an idea of where Dolly is today,
Speaker 1: I think we should take a little time to talk
Speaker 1: about where she started. And that's this rural town in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: It's called Locust Ridge, just next to the Smoky Mountains
Speaker 1: National Forest. And this is important because the concept of
Speaker 1: home has really been the driving force behind Dolly Pardon's
Speaker 1: entire career. I mean, it's something I think we'll see
Speaker 1: throughout the show today. But it wasn't just the location
Speaker 1: that made Dollies earlier so formative. Like her family was
Speaker 1: dirt poor. I mean she used that phrase all the time,
Speaker 1: and so much so that when Dolly was born in January,
Speaker 1: her dad she persuaded the local doctor to deliver her
Speaker 1: by giving him a big sack of oatmeal, like that's
Speaker 1: what he traded. I mean, I like oatmeal as much
Speaker 1: as the next guy. But let's be honest about this.
Speaker 1: I mean, the doctor really got the short end of
Speaker 1: the straw on that one. I think. So there's at
Speaker 1: least one person who might disagree with you on that.
Speaker 1: So Dolly is actually the fourth of twelve children, and
Speaker 1: one of her sisters, Stella Pardon, later wrote about their
Speaker 1: father's deal with that same doctor. So this is what
Speaker 1: she wrote. Quote, Daddy paid Dr Thomas a sack of
Speaker 1: meal to deliver Dolly. She was an expensive baby. Sometimes
Speaker 1: we pay him with chickens whatever we had available. That's
Speaker 1: pretty wild. I mean, I know I'm from generally the
Speaker 1: same region of the country, but I've still always been
Speaker 1: curious about these appellation exchange right, So a sack of
Speaker 1: oatmeal is actually worth more than live chickens. So I
Speaker 1: guess I stand corrected here, Mango. Well, honestly, life in
Speaker 1: locus Ridge was kind of a raw deal all around
Speaker 1: for the Pardons. I mean, Dolly's father was a sharecropper.
Speaker 1: He barely made enough money for the family to survive.
Speaker 1: He often had to barter for goods and services, just
Speaker 1: like you know, delivering a baby or health services. The
Speaker 1: um the fourteen Pardons all lived in a one room cabin.
Speaker 1: There was no running water, no gas, no electricity, And
Speaker 1: you know that just sounds like a recipe for one
Speaker 1: of the toughest childhood's imaginable, but possibly the worst part
Speaker 1: of it for Dolly was that she and her siblings
Speaker 1: had to bunk together, and these beds made of straw,
Speaker 1: and it was usually like three or four kids to
Speaker 1: each bed. I mean, that does sound incredibly uncomfortable, But
Speaker 1: do you really think that was worse than not having
Speaker 1: running water? I mean, that seems pretty rough. So I
Speaker 1: wondered about that too. But I actually found this quote
Speaker 1: here from UH an interviewed Dolly did with Playboy. This
Speaker 1: is from eight and UH. After you hear it, I
Speaker 1: think you'll change your mind on this. So this is
Speaker 1: Dolly recalling her childhood quote. The kids peat on me
Speaker 1: every night. There were so many of us. We slept
Speaker 1: three and four in the bed. I would wash every night,
Speaker 1: and as soon as I go to bed, the kids
Speaker 1: will wet on me, and I'd have to get up
Speaker 1: in the morning and do the same thing. That was
Speaker 1: the only warm thing we knew. In the wintertime, that
Speaker 1: was almost a pleasure to get pete on because it
Speaker 1: was so cold. Lord, it was as cold in the
Speaker 1: room as it was outside. We'd bundle up just to
Speaker 1: go to bed. I mean, it's just heartbreaking to hear that.
Speaker 1: You know, in light of all of that, it's maybe
Speaker 1: no wonder that Dolly took to music at such an
Speaker 1: early age as a way to soothe many of her troubles.
Speaker 1: I mean, her first exposure to music was through her mother,
Speaker 1: who was actually half Cherokee, and she played the guitar
Speaker 1: and sang and and she was also exposed to music
Speaker 1: through her grandfather, who was a songwriter and supposedly a
Speaker 1: mean fiddle player in his own right. And so when
Speaker 1: she was seven, Dolly's uncle gave her her first guitar,
Speaker 1: and then she started writing some of her first songs,
Speaker 1: and apparently she had a real knack for it from
Speaker 1: the very start. In this interview she did with Fresh Air,
Speaker 1: Dolly reflected on how her mother was quote always fascinated
Speaker 1: with the fact that I could rhyme so much stuff.
Speaker 1: That's really sweet. And of course she's still a gifted writer.
Speaker 1: You know, we mentioned earlier that Dolly Parton is semi
Speaker 1: two years old this year. She's been performing for a
Speaker 1: solid six decades now. It's just unimaginable, but you know
Speaker 1: that means that she was barely a preteen when she
Speaker 1: launched her professional career. In fact, just three years after
Speaker 1: receiving that first guitar. That's when Dolly was only ten
Speaker 1: years old, she started performing professionally. She made appearances on
Speaker 1: local TV radio shows in Knoxville and and then two
Speaker 1: years after that she performed for the first time on
Speaker 1: the Grand Old Oprey And by the time she graduated
Speaker 1: high school, she'd actually cut recordings with three different record labels. Well,
Speaker 1: there's no question that Dolly found her calling and chased
Speaker 1: it full force from the very start. In fact, I
Speaker 1: once heard her say in an interview that she graduated
Speaker 1: high school on a Friday and then hit the road
Speaker 1: for Nashville the very next morning. That's right, and obviously
Speaker 1: moving to Nashville paid off for Dolly in all sorts
Speaker 1: of ways, not the least of which was romantically, because
Speaker 1: on the very same day she arrived in Nashville, Dolly
Speaker 1: bumped into her future husband at the Wishy Washy laundromette.
Speaker 1: He was for a few years older than Dolly and
Speaker 1: a complete stranger at the point, but she was taken
Speaker 1: with him right away, and as she later explained, quote,
Speaker 1: I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me,
Speaker 1: he looked at my face a rare thing for me,
Speaker 1: And two years after that the pair got married, and
Speaker 1: I'm happy to say that they're still going strong some
Speaker 1: fifty odd years later. I mean, talk about imat cute.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get much cuter than the wishy washy laundromat
Speaker 1: is the place where you meet your future husband totally. Also,
Speaker 1: can I just say how hard it is to talk
Speaker 1: about any aspect of Dolly Pardon's life without almost just
Speaker 1: letting her tell the story. I mean, she has like
Speaker 1: three different charming quotes for every single location, and I
Speaker 1: am trying to be selective here, but I couldn't decide
Speaker 1: between which of these quotes on marriage to include, so
Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna go ahead and read both of them.
Speaker 1: So this is from two fourteen, when the Today Show
Speaker 1: asked Dollie about her seecret for staying married so long,
Speaker 1: and this is how she replied, we know each other
Speaker 1: so well. I know every line in his face and
Speaker 1: he knows every hair in my wig. I just thought
Speaker 1: that was so cute. And the quote is when she
Speaker 1: and Called renewed their vows in two thousand sixteen, and
Speaker 1: this is what Dolly told the press. We're really proud
Speaker 1: of our marriage, it's the first for both of us
Speaker 1: and the last, which is just so sweet. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: those are both pretty great quotes. And really, when you're
Speaker 1: talking about someone who has a way with words like
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton's, it's it's kind of a disservice not to
Speaker 1: include at least a few of them. But so getting
Speaker 1: back to Nashville, we we should mention that this is
Speaker 1: where Dolly's career really started to take off. And you
Speaker 1: think about her first two years there. Dolly was under
Speaker 1: contract with Monument Records. Now they tried to market her
Speaker 1: more as a pop singer than as a country singer,
Speaker 1: and Dolly actually went along with this arrangement. But on
Speaker 1: the side, she did start recording and selling her own
Speaker 1: country songs, and she was mostly doing this around Nashville.
Speaker 1: So you fast forward a couple of years. It was
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six and Dolly caught the attention of listeners
Speaker 1: all over the country with a song called put It
Speaker 1: Off Until Tomorrow. Then a year after that, she followed
Speaker 1: it up with a song called dumb Blonde. Now, this
Speaker 1: was a song she wrote about being underestimated based on
Speaker 1: her looks. It was her first solo hit to make
Speaker 1: the charts, and it kind of marked the beginning of
Speaker 1: this transition from more regional star to definitely more of
Speaker 1: a national one, right, And I do think it was
Speaker 1: around this time that she started partnering up with that
Speaker 1: other country singer, right like I and I've got his
Speaker 1: name in the notes, but it's like Porter or something, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Porter Wagner. This was Mr grand Old Opry himself and
Speaker 1: Porter host of this half hour country music show at
Speaker 1: the time that was called, creatively enough, the Porter Wagner Show.
Speaker 1: And so it's fortunate that Porter was the host of it,
Speaker 1: but he invited Dolly to come on to be a
Speaker 1: regular performer on the show, and the two of them
Speaker 1: also recorded this whole slew of hit country songs over
Speaker 1: the next eight years or so. And in fact, in
Speaker 1: the late sixties and early seventies, Dolly was releasing it
Speaker 1: was like three or more albums worth of new material
Speaker 1: every single year, and that colossal output was thanks in
Speaker 1: no small part to that partnership with Wagner. So I
Speaker 1: know the two went through separate ways in the seventies,
Speaker 1: but did you get a sense of what caused that split, Like,
Speaker 1: was it over money or songwrites or what what was it? Honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, I think Dolly just became such a huge
Speaker 1: star in her own right, and so she really just
Speaker 1: wanted to focus full time on that solo career for
Speaker 1: a while. And you know, as you might expect, that
Speaker 1: decision created some bad blood between the two of them,
Speaker 1: but they did eventually make up some time in the eighties,
Speaker 1: and they even performed together a few times after that.
Speaker 1: But actually, I'm glad you mentioned the Songwrits because that's
Speaker 1: one of the first cases where Dolly showed what a
Speaker 1: shrewd businesswoman she could be. And I say that because
Speaker 1: early in her career, Dolly started her own publishing company,
Speaker 1: and she did this so she could protect the rights
Speaker 1: to that ever growing catalog of songs, and so as
Speaker 1: a result, she owns just about every song she's ever recorded,
Speaker 1: and that's of course netted her millions and millions of
Speaker 1: dollars and royalties over the years. That's pretty amazing. I
Speaker 1: feel like I've heard stories of like Michael Stipe taking
Speaker 1: Kirt Cobain or someone aside and telling them about managing
Speaker 1: their rights or whatever, and it's this recurring thing that
Speaker 1: keeps happening. But you know, for Dolly Parton to do
Speaker 1: that such a long time ago is just so smart
Speaker 1: is It's impressing? But you know not, now that we've
Speaker 1: covered the basics in the first half of Dolly's career,
Speaker 1: what do you say we slow things down and go
Speaker 1: a little more in depth about a few of the
Speaker 1: songs that really made her famous. I'm definitely for that,
Speaker 1: But first, let's take a quick break. You're listening to
Speaker 1: part Time Genius, and we're talking about the life and
Speaker 1: times of the Smoky Mountains song Bird, the Queen of Nashville, herself,
Speaker 1: the Iron Butterfly. This is miss Dolly Parton. But don't
Speaker 1: let any of those fancy nicknames for you, because despite
Speaker 1: her fame and success, Dolly's never forgotten her modest roots.
Speaker 1: Is that she found ways to channel them into her
Speaker 1: music early on, you know, crafting songs that gave voice
Speaker 1: to these overlooked female perspectives. And this was, of course,
Speaker 1: at a time when country music was largely still a
Speaker 1: boy's club. Now, she took inspiration from the female country
Speaker 1: pioneers that came before her. You think of names like
Speaker 1: Molly o Day, Kitty Wells, and of course Patsy Klein.
Speaker 1: But then she took her place alongside them and became
Speaker 1: this progressive messenger to rural and working class listeners. And
Speaker 1: this would be male and female alike. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think you were saying the way that Dolly's background informs
Speaker 1: of music is just such a big part of her appeal.
Speaker 1: You know, her ear music can be heartbreaking when it
Speaker 1: focuses on the uglier sides of life, but she never
Speaker 1: seems to dwell on those negative emotions and instead she
Speaker 1: sings about I guess learning from that pain, or you know,
Speaker 1: staying positive about what the future holds and when you
Speaker 1: get down to it. Obviously those are universal concepts and
Speaker 1: in fact, there was this article a while back in
Speaker 1: the Journal of Pop Culture and it talks about how
Speaker 1: the people of Zimbabwe are apparently huge, huge Dolly parton fans.
Speaker 1: That just makes me so happy. And the good senses
Speaker 1: is that, uh, I guess zimbabweins identifies so strongly with
Speaker 1: her because of how open and earnest she is about
Speaker 1: her own like underprivileged past, and it's pretty pretty remarkable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I never knew Dolly was so big and Zimbabwe, but
Speaker 1: if you, if you stop and think about it, that
Speaker 1: reasoning definitely makes sense. I mean, she even talked about
Speaker 1: that kind of kinship herself in this interview she did
Speaker 1: with Biography a few years back. So she was asked
Speaker 1: about how growing up in poverty prepared her for a
Speaker 1: career as a performer, and here's what she had to
Speaker 1: say about it. I think being brought up dirt poor
Speaker 1: left me with a feeling of what it was like
Speaker 1: to go without, so I can relate when people are
Speaker 1: having a hard time. In my case being a songwriter,
Speaker 1: I'm able to write not only four and about myself
Speaker 1: before what I know other people are feeling, even if
Speaker 1: they don't always have the means to get their voices heard.
Speaker 1: Being brought up poor, I recognize and appreciate the value
Speaker 1: of a dollar I never spend without thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I appreciate all the things I have because I have
Speaker 1: been without right and maybe one of the best examples
Speaker 1: of Dolly's music being influenced by our hardships of her
Speaker 1: youth is that classic song from nineventy one, Code of
Speaker 1: Many Colors. It's actually based on a real incident from
Speaker 1: Dolly's childhood and tells the story of the time when
Speaker 1: her mother stitched a new coat for her and made
Speaker 1: from all these assorted scraps of cloth. And as we've said,
Speaker 1: the family was cash strapped, so they couldn't afford a
Speaker 1: new coat for Dolly to wear during the school year
Speaker 1: that year. But when the colorful patchwork coat was finished,
Speaker 1: you know, it pretty much looked like a big quilt.
Speaker 1: I mean to most people, who would have been obvious
Speaker 1: from one look that this was a coat born of necessity.
Speaker 1: But Dolly's mom wanted her to feel proud of who
Speaker 1: she was and where she came from, and really not
Speaker 1: to feel that shame or that constant weight of her
Speaker 1: family's poverty. So when she presented this makeshift coat to Dolly,
Speaker 1: she she actually compared it to that story of in
Speaker 1: the Old Testament of Joseph, and I guess that that
Speaker 1: technicolor dreamcoat that that he receives. Yeah, And you know,
Speaker 1: if you think about it, Dolly grew up in an
Speaker 1: incredibly religious environment, so that kind of comparison was likely
Speaker 1: pretty impressive to her. I mean, who knows how many
Speaker 1: times she'd heard that story of Joseph while she was
Speaker 1: growing up. Yeah, definitely. And the problem was that Dolly's
Speaker 1: classmates didn't share that sentiment. You know what, when she
Speaker 1: showed up at school in her coat of many colors,
Speaker 1: the other thought for what it was that, you know,
Speaker 1: this clear sign of just how poor the Pardons were.
Speaker 1: And so the other kids laughed, they made fun of
Speaker 1: the code and and Dolly just got totally confused by
Speaker 1: this response, and as she puts it in the song,
Speaker 1: and oh, I couldn't understand it, for I felt I
Speaker 1: was rich, and I told them of the love my
Speaker 1: mama sewed in every stitch, but they didn't understand it.
Speaker 1: And I tried to make them see that one is
Speaker 1: only poor only if they choose to be. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful song, and I know it's one of Dolly's
Speaker 1: personal favorites too, and she even brought it back as
Speaker 1: an illustrated children's book in the early nineties, And of
Speaker 1: course they're more recently as a made for TV movie
Speaker 1: And You're really the songs taken on kind of this
Speaker 1: second life in schools as somewhat of an anti bullying anthem,
Speaker 1: and it just seems very appropriate as that. And so
Speaker 1: all in all, it's not a bad legacy for for
Speaker 1: kind of a ratty old coat, but it kind of
Speaker 1: makes you wonder what happened to the original thing. So
Speaker 1: there actually is a coat of many colors in the
Speaker 1: Dolly Pardon Museum, but it's actually a replica of that
Speaker 1: coat that her mom made for her. So apparently the
Speaker 1: original was ripped up at some point and the scraps
Speaker 1: were reused to make baby blankets for a few of
Speaker 1: Dolly's siblings. But you know, the replica's there, and it's
Speaker 1: right next to Porter Wagner's laundry slip, which is what
Speaker 1: Dolly had used to scribble out the lyrics when she
Speaker 1: wrote the song. Oh that's interesting, actually, speaking of Porter,
Speaker 1: did you know that that song I Will Always Love
Speaker 1: You was actually written about him? You're talking about that
Speaker 1: Wheney Houston song from the Bodyguard soundtract. That's it. It's
Speaker 1: really a Dolly Parton song. It was not a Whitney
Speaker 1: Houston song. Dolly had written it as a sort of
Speaker 1: a goodbye when she and Porter were parting ways, and
Speaker 1: supposedly he cried the first time she played it for him.
Speaker 1: So that does make me wonder, like, how did her
Speaker 1: husband Carl feel about it, because you know, it's a
Speaker 1: pretty romantic song to write about a business partner. It
Speaker 1: definitely is and you know, there were always rumors that
Speaker 1: Dolly and Porter were maybe more than just friends, but
Speaker 1: there was never any proof to back that hearsay. But
Speaker 1: you know, whatever the case, the song was a huge
Speaker 1: hit for Dolly back in nineteen seventy four, and then
Speaker 1: a couple of decades later for Houston in Nino. And
Speaker 1: actually there was another big name artists who wanted to
Speaker 1: cover the song in the years in between, but Dolly
Speaker 1: turned him down cold. You might have actually heard of
Speaker 1: this performer. His name was Elvis Pressley. I mean, it
Speaker 1: does ring about so well, why why would you turn
Speaker 1: down the king? I'm curious, Like, I feel like having
Speaker 1: him cover your song would just make it huge, right,
Speaker 1: that's true? But you got to think about his notoriously
Speaker 1: bullish manager that I know we've talked about a little
Speaker 1: bit before, and that was Colonel Tom Parker. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't just that he wanted permission to cover the song.
Speaker 1: He actually wanted Dolly to hand over half of the
Speaker 1: publishing rights as well, and of course this was a
Speaker 1: total non starter for Dolly, so she refused the deal outright,
Speaker 1: and it turned out to be a smart move as well,
Speaker 1: because by retaining those full rights, Dolly was free to
Speaker 1: cash in on the royalties when the song became a
Speaker 1: massive hit for Houston decades later. Yeah, So, I was
Speaker 1: doing this interview where someone asked Allie if she had
Speaker 1: any favorite cover versions of her own songs, and she
Speaker 1: kind of gave this halfhearted answer before she finally admitted that, like, honestly,
Speaker 1: her favorites are whichever one's maker the most money, and
Speaker 1: that would probably my favorite. I'm being honest too if
Speaker 1: I were in the same situation. But you know, since
Speaker 1: we're on the subject of covers, we should talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about the Dolly Parton song that's been recorded
Speaker 1: by other artists more than any other songs she's written.
Speaker 1: And that's, of course that nineteen seventy three hit Joe Lane,
Speaker 1: and just really have been a ton of other versions
Speaker 1: released over the years. And just looking at the list
Speaker 1: of these and think about the ones that we've heard.
Speaker 1: You've got the White Stripes to Olivia Newton John's disco
Speaker 1: remix to even a Gawth rendition, which I have to
Speaker 1: admit I haven't heard. I want to go back and
Speaker 1: listen to this by the Sisters of Mercy. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: haven't heard that goth version either any listeners together. But well,
Speaker 1: why do you think the song in particular has had
Speaker 1: such a long life, you know, in terms of the
Speaker 1: music scene, Well for starters, joe Lyne is part of
Speaker 1: this long line of so called cheating songs, which of
Speaker 1: course are a staple in country music, right up there
Speaker 1: with all the patriotic ballads. And in fact, there was
Speaker 1: a study of the four hundred most popular country songs
Speaker 1: released between nineteen sixty and and cheating situations were found
Speaker 1: to be one of the most popular subjects, and they
Speaker 1: were actually second only to the more straightforward love song.
Speaker 1: So it's it's pretty interesting how many of them there
Speaker 1: are out there. But what makes Jolene stand up from
Speaker 1: the crowd is it's really that vulnerability and kind of
Speaker 1: those feelings of inadequacy that are conveyed in it. And And
Speaker 1: you know, for anybody who hasn't heard some form of
Speaker 1: this song, you've got Joe Lene, who's this you know,
Speaker 1: red haired, pale skin woman and the singer fears that
Speaker 1: she's stolen the heart of her husband. But rather than
Speaker 1: kind of being this saddlement or a tale of revenge
Speaker 1: like so many of the other cheating songs, that are
Speaker 1: out there. Dolly song is really this heartfelt plead directly
Speaker 1: to the or woman so and the singer literally begs
Speaker 1: Jolene not to steal her man. And many of us
Speaker 1: have heard these lyrics, but some of them go, you
Speaker 1: could have your choice of men, but I could never
Speaker 1: love again. He's the only one for me, Joe Lane.
Speaker 1: And you know, you think about that kind of diplomatic
Speaker 1: and self debasing approach, that was really something new for
Speaker 1: the genre. And I think that feeling of not measuring
Speaker 1: up to your perceptions of someone else was was pretty
Speaker 1: relatable for a lot of people. And it was probably
Speaker 1: kind of endearing or maybe even cathartic to know that
Speaker 1: somebody is glamorous his Dolly parton could still fall prey
Speaker 1: to these insecurities. Yeah, I mean it is interesting just
Speaker 1: you know, you have these topics that everyone covers, but
Speaker 1: there's always an unusual way to voice it, and that
Speaker 1: Dolly pardon just gets that right. But you know, from
Speaker 1: what you were saying, I was curious, is it actually
Speaker 1: autobiographical as well? Well, it's not exactly, but it was
Speaker 1: definitely based on a few events from Dolly's life, like
Speaker 1: Jolene's name, and physical features were inspired by this little
Speaker 1: girl who would ask for Dolly's autograph after a show
Speaker 1: one night, and then this idea of a woman showing
Speaker 1: interest in her husband that was supposedly crib from this
Speaker 1: real life bank teller who had this habit of flirting
Speaker 1: with Carl Dean. So here's how Dolly puts it, she
Speaker 1: got this terrible crush on my husband, and he just
Speaker 1: loved going to the bank because she paid him so
Speaker 1: much attention. So it's kind of like a running joke
Speaker 1: between us when I was saying, Hell, you're spending a
Speaker 1: lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we
Speaker 1: have that kind of money. So it's really an innocent
Speaker 1: song all around, but it sounds like a dreadful and
Speaker 1: that's really funny. Well, you know, we could probably spend
Speaker 1: all day talking about Dollis hit songs, but I do
Speaker 1: want to make sure we cover at least a few
Speaker 1: of the non musical contributions she's made as well. All right, well,
Speaker 1: let's do that, but first let's take a quick break, okay, Mago,
Speaker 1: So let's talk about a few of the times when
Speaker 1: Dolly's kind of branched out from her singing career and
Speaker 1: tried her hand. It's something new, sure. So one of
Speaker 1: the earliest examples of Dolly stepping out was in the
Speaker 1: nineties when she crossed over from the stage to the
Speaker 1: movie screen. And this is when she made her debut,
Speaker 1: starting alongside Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin. You might remember this.
Speaker 1: It was the movie of Course. Of Course is a
Speaker 1: comedy classic. You know. It's got three working women finally
Speaker 1: fed up with their sexist boss and then they start
Speaker 1: to pull all these schemes to get even The movie
Speaker 1: was a huge hit of the box office, and and
Speaker 1: the title song Dolly wrote for it went to number
Speaker 1: one on both the pop and the country charts, you know,
Speaker 1: and of course it even earned her an Oscar nomination
Speaker 1: for Best Song. It was such a fun song, and
Speaker 1: it's got that great first line. It's tumble out of
Speaker 1: bed and stumbled at the kitchen, pour myself a cup
Speaker 1: of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come
Speaker 1: to life. I mean, I feel like she was speaking
Speaker 1: for a lot of us with those lyrics. Definitely, and
Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why nine both the song
Speaker 1: and the movie have become such a lasting part of
Speaker 1: pop culture. You know I've forgotten this, but there was
Speaker 1: actually a nine to five TV show that ran for
Speaker 1: five seasons and I didn't remember that. Yeah, Gabe actually
Speaker 1: told me about it, and Dolly wrote new songs for
Speaker 1: the Broadway version that opened in two thousand nine. But
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks ago, Dollie announced that there's
Speaker 1: even a sequel in the works with she Fonda, Lily Tomlin.
Speaker 1: They're all going to reprise their roles. Oh man, that's awesome,
Speaker 1: but you know it's so many years later. I guess
Speaker 1: I guess it is better late than never. But actually
Speaker 1: a little surprise that Dolly is willing to get back
Speaker 1: into the pants suit. It was pretty hilarious just reading
Speaker 1: about the experience from that movie, and she had kind
Speaker 1: of sworn them off after filming the first movie. And
Speaker 1: as she put it, I loved the movie and enjoyed
Speaker 1: doing it, but I couldn't wait to get out of
Speaker 1: those little suits and get into my trashy stuff. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's obviously like classic Dolly Pardon you know she has
Speaker 1: that quote. Uh, I just looked like the girl next door.
Speaker 1: If you happen to live next door to an amusement park,
Speaker 1: that's pretty great. Thanks for the Thanks for the set
Speaker 1: up there. Because speaking of amusement parks, or really theme
Speaker 1: parks in this case, we definitely can't let this episode
Speaker 1: go without talking at least a little bit about Dollywood
Speaker 1: because plenty of singers have made that jump from music
Speaker 1: to TV and of course even movies, Dolly pretty much
Speaker 1: stands alone in terms of the theme park ownership thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's obviously an unusual business move for a musician,
Speaker 1: but uh, I am sure that, like if Beyonce decided
Speaker 1: to have at theme park it would also be amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd show up. So I am curious, like what made
Speaker 1: Dolly go for it? Like, like like what was she just
Speaker 1: really into roller coasters or what was it? It definitely
Speaker 1: wasn't the roller coaster thing. In fact, even though Dollies
Speaker 1: owned the theme park for over thirty years now, she's
Speaker 1: never written a single ride there. Apparently she suffers from
Speaker 1: really bad motion sickness, and she said she used to
Speaker 1: get sick from riding on the school bus, so roller
Speaker 1: coasters are pretty much out of the question for her.
Speaker 1: But we go back to this idea of why she
Speaker 1: bought the park. There were a few things really, but
Speaker 1: you know. First, it actually helps to know that Dollywood
Speaker 1: wasn't always Dollywood. The original totally unrelated park it opened
Speaker 1: there in nineteen sixty one. It was called Rebel Railroad.
Speaker 1: Then it changed names and owners a few times over
Speaker 1: the decades, and Dolly finally took over in nineteen eighties six,
Speaker 1: and it was then that she re themed the park
Speaker 1: really more around the history of the Smoky Mountains, and
Speaker 1: she decided to call it Dollywood. Actually, this kind of
Speaker 1: a random aside. The parks located in a Tennessee town
Speaker 1: called Pigeon Forge, and apparently it was named for this
Speaker 1: iron forge from the eighteen hundreds and for the flocks
Speaker 1: of passenger pigeons that were native to the region. Neither
Speaker 1: of these things still exist today. I think the forge
Speaker 1: was eventually demolished and the pigeons, unfortunately just all went extinct.
Speaker 1: Did Dolly grow up near the park? I I mean,
Speaker 1: I I know she went around when it opened, but like,
Speaker 1: was it close to where she actually grew up? He
Speaker 1: definitely was. In fact, it was even in the same county,
Speaker 1: and so it was that proximity that attracted Dolly to
Speaker 1: the park. For a couple of reasons. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: for one thing, the park featured a chapel that was
Speaker 1: built and named and on or of doctor Robert Thomas,
Speaker 1: who was that same doctor who delivered Dolly in exchange
Speaker 1: for the bag of votes that we talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: And then the other kind of equally sentimental reasons she
Speaker 1: got involved was that she wanted to do something positive
Speaker 1: for the area where she grew up. I mean, of
Speaker 1: course she wanted to make money too, but there's no
Speaker 1: doubt that she chose this investment in particular as a
Speaker 1: way to give back to the community. And Dollie said
Speaker 1: this much herself. There was a quote from two thousand
Speaker 1: and ten where she explained that she had quote always
Speaker 1: thought that if I made it big or got successful
Speaker 1: at what I had started out to do, that I
Speaker 1: wanted to come back to my part of the country
Speaker 1: and do something great, something I would bring a lot
Speaker 1: of jobs into this area. And to her credit, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what she did. I mean, to this day, Dollywood
Speaker 1: is still the number one employer in that same county
Speaker 1: in Tennessee. That's pretty incredible, you know, and I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure it's going to be the same case for a
Speaker 1: very long time. Now because earlier this month, Ali announced
Speaker 1: that she's adding a new adventure land to the park.
Speaker 1: It's called Wildwood Grove. It's supposed to add eleven new attractions.
Speaker 1: It's expected to cost thirty seven million dollars, which I
Speaker 1: guess we'll make this the biggest expansion in the park's history.
Speaker 1: And since Dollywood gets about two point five million visitors
Speaker 1: each year, I'm sure this new area is going to
Speaker 1: be put to good use for sure. But actually, for
Speaker 1: any listeners planning their next vacation, you should keep in
Speaker 1: mind dogs are not allowed in Dollywood, but that's not
Speaker 1: something really to worry about because Dolly has you covered
Speaker 1: on this front. You can actually just drop your pups
Speaker 1: off ahead of time at the park's kennel, which is
Speaker 1: appropriately named Doggie Wood. I like that, you know, I
Speaker 1: I know. We already said that Dollywood was born at
Speaker 1: least in part from Dolly's desire to give back to Tennessee.
Speaker 1: But they're also these more straightforward charities that Dolly has
Speaker 1: been involved in, and I do want to highlight just
Speaker 1: a couple of them. So the first is called My
Speaker 1: People Fund. It was a campaign that she launched in
Speaker 1: two thousand and sixteen following the really awful wildfire in
Speaker 1: the Smokey Bonds region and if I left hundreds of
Speaker 1: residents homeless. But Dolly's campaign used outside donations as well
Speaker 1: as some of her own money to provide all these
Speaker 1: displaced families with a thousand dollars per month stipends for
Speaker 1: a full six months and on all the My People
Speaker 1: Fund distributed just under nine million dollars to the fire victims,
Speaker 1: and it provided an additional three million to the region's
Speaker 1: mountain recovery team. It's pretty incredible, and you know, I'd
Speaker 1: expect nothing less from an official ambassador to the Smokey
Speaker 1: Mountain National Park, which, of course Dolly Parton is so
Speaker 1: I I love that idea, but it's official, like national
Speaker 1: parks actually have ambassadors. Apparently they do. So they were
Speaker 1: looking for somebody to represent the Smokey Mountain Park for
Speaker 1: this big seventy fifth anniversary back in I guess it
Speaker 1: was two thousand nine, and so park officials asked themselves,
Speaker 1: if we could pick one person who is the most
Speaker 1: recognizable and personifies the love of the Smokies, who would
Speaker 1: it be. And the answer was unanimous. It was Dolly Parton,
Speaker 1: not Smoky the Bear, not Smokey fair Well, they definitely
Speaker 1: picked the right person for the job. But I do
Speaker 1: want to mention that dollis humanitarian first, aren't limited to
Speaker 1: helping just those from her own state. You know, she's
Speaker 1: actually run her own charity organization. It's called the Dollywood Foundation,
Speaker 1: and she's done this since ninety and over the years
Speaker 1: it's provide millions in school scholarships, hospital donations, supplies for classrooms.
Speaker 1: But the outreach program that I've always been most impressed
Speaker 1: by is her Imagination Library. And this is a program
Speaker 1: she started twenty three years ago, and the whole goal
Speaker 1: was improving literacy rates among children. And the way it
Speaker 1: works is that anyone who signs up for the service
Speaker 1: receives one book. It's free, it's hand picked, and they
Speaker 1: get it in the mail every month until he or
Speaker 1: she turns five years old. And these days, the organization
Speaker 1: gives out more than ten million books annually. And just
Speaker 1: this February, the program reached this major major milestone. It
Speaker 1: donated it's hundred million book And uh, I just love,
Speaker 1: I know, I just love how much thought went into
Speaker 1: this program's approach, Like you should just listen how Dolly
Speaker 1: explains it. Quote, even if you're not able to go
Speaker 1: to college, if you can read, you can find out
Speaker 1: about any subject that you're interested in. And if a
Speaker 1: book is coming to the mailbox every month, then it's
Speaker 1: got your name on it, then you're going to find
Speaker 1: someone to help you read it to you. I think
Speaker 1: what really strikes me is just how many times in
Speaker 1: this episode we've talked about Dolly Parton with phrases like,
Speaker 1: you know, just this year, or just last month, or
Speaker 1: even a few weeks ago. I mean, you're talking about
Speaker 1: a seventy two year old country singer, and she's still
Speaker 1: making headlines for music and movies and TV and of
Speaker 1: course even theme parks. Yeah, even theme parks. I mean,
Speaker 1: the whole idea of her as some kind of unstoppable
Speaker 1: powerhouse is actually one that Dolly seems to hold for herself.
Speaker 1: And I know we've been quoting her a lot today,
Speaker 1: but I think this last one just really sums up
Speaker 1: Dolly and also the main message she wants to convey
Speaker 1: through her art. And so here's how it goes. Quote.
Speaker 1: My favorite book is The Little Engine That Could, and
Speaker 1: it's the first book we give to children who participate
Speaker 1: in my imagination library. I think I can. I Think
Speaker 1: I can. It's a motto that I live by, and
Speaker 1: I personally believe that positive thinking can change anyone's life.
Speaker 1: I've always follow in my heart that the only that
Speaker 1: that could ever stand in my way is simply me.
Speaker 1: It does seem appropriate for Dolly to get the last word,
Speaker 1: but we're not done just yet, because we've got a
Speaker 1: few more dollaryisms to share in today's fact off. So
Speaker 1: are you're ready to get started? Mango? I think I can.
Speaker 1: I Think I can. H So you can now take
Speaker 1: an honors course at the University of Tennessee that's called
Speaker 1: Dollies America. And it's this seminar where they use Dolly's
Speaker 1: life story to help better understand Appalachian culture. So Dolly
Speaker 1: grew up about half an hour or so from Knoxville,
Speaker 1: where the university's main campuses, and the class actually looks
Speaker 1: at things like stereotypes of Hillbillies and the way they
Speaker 1: represented in popular culture. It's it's a class I'd probably
Speaker 1: like to take. So this is gonna sound strange, but
Speaker 1: we actually have Dolly to thank, at least partially for
Speaker 1: the existence of Buffy. Buffy like that, like Vampire Slayer Buffy.
Speaker 1: M Hm, that's the one. So back in the eighties,
Speaker 1: Dolly in her former measure and roommate Sandy Gallen, founded
Speaker 1: this production company called sand Dollar, and sand Dollar actually
Speaker 1: co produced Buffy as well as it's been off Angel
Speaker 1: and Gallen was listed as an exact producer, but Pardoner
Speaker 1: she stayed out of the spotlight, even though she she
Speaker 1: deserved some of the credit. Wow, you know, I think
Speaker 1: we've talked about this before, but of course you remember Dolly,
Speaker 1: who was the sheep that was the first successful cloning
Speaker 1: of a mammal. Well, it was in fact named after
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton. Now, the sheep's original name was six L three,
Speaker 1: which is not quite as catchy in my opinion, but
Speaker 1: supposedly one of the stockman who was there at the
Speaker 1: time of six L three's birth decided to give her
Speaker 1: the name Dolly because she was cloned from a mammary cell. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't think we have to explain that one, but
Speaker 1: it makes you wonder like if Dolly Parton would have
Speaker 1: been offended by this, But as she always does, she
Speaker 1: just rolled with it and said I was honored. There's
Speaker 1: no such thing as bad publicity, So I like that
Speaker 1: she even made it into a little joke there. So
Speaker 1: I think it's funny that Dolly once decided to enter
Speaker 1: a Dolly Pardon lookalike contest in Los Angeles and this
Speaker 1: was just for the fun of it. But the best part,
Speaker 1: obviously is that she didn't come anywhere close to winning.
Speaker 1: Apparently they felt that she was too short to be convincing,
Speaker 1: and the winner ended up being someone in drag and
Speaker 1: she of course just found this entirely hilarious, you know.
Speaker 1: But but the good thing was that she actually got
Speaker 1: to walk around some of her biggest fans and no one,
Speaker 1: no one in the audience noticed her. That's awesome. Oh,
Speaker 1: here's something that I'm excited about. There's apparently an anthology
Speaker 1: series based on Dolly songs that's being developed for Netflix
Speaker 1: and supposedly will be released next year. There will be
Speaker 1: an eight part series and each episode will be based
Speaker 1: on a different Dolly parton song and they haven't announced
Speaker 1: which songs yet, and there are obviously so many to
Speaker 1: choose from, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. Well, as if we need any more proof
Speaker 1: that Dolly always remembers where she came from and hasn't
Speaker 1: forgotten how to do things herself. Do you know that
Speaker 1: before she goes on tour, Dollie actually cooks a bunch
Speaker 1: of food, puts it all in freezer bags, and then
Speaker 1: loads it up on the bus. And she says, quote,
Speaker 1: I do cook for a week before I go on tour,
Speaker 1: so I put stuff in the freezer so we'll have
Speaker 1: great country food if we don't have what I want
Speaker 1: at all the places we stop. Oh man, that is
Speaker 1: so wonderful. Yeah. I can't decide which fact I love
Speaker 1: most in all of this, but just thinking about like
Speaker 1: the fact that she is partially responsible for Buffy being
Speaker 1: out there but taking almost no credit as a producer,
Speaker 1: the whole humility around the lookalike contest, and of course
Speaker 1: always remembering where she came from. With that last fact, man,
Speaker 1: I think I have to give you the trophy this week.
Speaker 1: I was so nervous you're gonna say, I think I
Speaker 1: have to give it to Tristan because he's still wearing
Speaker 1: the wig. But it's to take a side. Now. I
Speaker 1: might have given it to him, but the wig is
Speaker 1: just it's really kind of fallen out of place, So
Speaker 1: it's just just getting worse now, you know what. As always,
Speaker 1: we love hearing facts from our listeners, so we'd love
Speaker 1: to hear something from you about Dolly Parton or any
Speaker 1: fun stories you may have had from over the years
Speaker 1: as a fan of Dolly Parton. You can always email
Speaker 1: us part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com
Speaker 1: or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. But as always,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening. Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and
Speaker 1: wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the
Speaker 1: important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil
Speaker 1: does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song
Speaker 1: and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does
Speaker 1: the exact producer thing. Gabelues Years our lead researcher, with
Speaker 1: support from the Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown
Speaker 1: and Lucas Adams and Eve Jeff Cook gets the show
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Speaker 1: really like what you've heard, maybe could leave a good
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