WEBVTT - How Did Dolly Parton Become Such a Legend? 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.640 I guess what mango was that. Well, all right, so 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.720 you remember how a while back I told you that 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:08.960 we'd won this big prize in an event we went to. 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.760 In fact, the whole family had won a trip to Dollywood. Yeah, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:14.840 of course I do. I feel like every month I 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:16.600 ask you when you guys are gonna make the trip. Well, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.360 you know, it just didn't feel right to go until 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.920 I felt like it was an expert on all things 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.639 Dolly Parton. I mean, it's not like you have to 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.000 know everything about Dolly to ride a roller coaster, but 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.560 it just seemed like a good excuse to learn more 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.559 about somebody who's been such a superstar for you know, 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.680 not only our entire lives, but several decades before that. Yeah, 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:38.680 and and we've actually been talking about doing this episode 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.920 for a while now. Dolly Parton's obviously a legend. I 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.080 think what I find most fascinating about her is that 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.280 it's really difficult to find an artist who has appealed 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.360 to so many different types of people for so many decades. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.680 It's really impressive. So, you know, in preparation for my 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.280 family trip to Dollywood, because that's really what this is 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.160 all about, we thought you know today was the day 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.520 to talk about how Dolly became Dolly, and how she 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.840 found inspiration for some of her most well known songs, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.880 and of course which African nation came to love Dolly most. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:33.000 So let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.640 Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.280 joined by my good friend Manges Ticketer and on the 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.440 other side of the soundproof glass wearing this ruby rhine 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.920 stone vest and the biggest blondest wig. I really think 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.760 it's the biggest one I have ever seen. That's our 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.720 friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And you know, I do 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.560 have to give him credit for his boldness because that's 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:55.920 a tough look to pull off, and believe me, he 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.760 does not pull it off. But it is a lovely attribute. 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.880 So Tristan, I'm sure Dolly would be more than honored well. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.840 And when you get down to it, that's really what 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.799 today's episode is all about. It's honoring Dolly Parton because 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.919 at this point it's safe to say that Dolly is 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.200 something of an American icon. I mean, just think about it, 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.280 like she's been in the spotlight for the better part 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.480 of six decades now, and during that time, she's made 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:22.359 a name for herself, you know, not only as a 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.840 prolific singer and songwriter, but as a businesswoman, a humanitarian, 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.520 and of course even a theme park owner. But you know, really, 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.280 the thing that earns Dolly her American icon status is 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.680 the fact that she achieved all of her success in 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.079 spite of, or perhaps because of, her markedly humble beginnings. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.200 So today we're going to look past that platinum, blonde 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.200 wig and any of the gaudy outfits that make Dolly 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.320 so instantly recognizable, and instead we're going to focus on 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.560 that highly skilled performer beneath all of that glitz and glamour. 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.520 That's right, and before we get into just how humbled 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.000 all these beginnings, where I thought I'd give some perspective 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.160 by running down a few of her major accomplishments. So 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.320 for starters, she's been dominated for forty seven Grammy Awards, 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.880 eight of which she's won. She's also been nominated for 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.760 two Oscars, two Emmy's and one Tony definitely E gotting there. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.080 She's uh in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, She's in 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.160 the Grammy Hall of Fame. She's also in the Country 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.880 Music Hall of Fame. And and lastly, she's composed more 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.840 than three thousand songs in her life and hold over 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:27.200 a hundred million albums worldwide. That's just phenomenal. It's just incredible. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:29.200 When you lay it all out like that, it's hard 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.520 to think of anyone who's pulled off anything of of 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.760 that magnitude in the music world. But you know, maybe 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.760 what's most impressive to me is that even at seventy two, 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.800 Dolly really shows no signs of stopping. Not only she's 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.560 still recording and touring on a regular basis, I mean 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.400 she's still breaking records and racking up awards. Just looking 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.160 at a couple of these records. It was just this 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.040 past January, Dolly was recognized for not one, but two 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.400 Guinness World Records. Now, the first of these was for 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:59.960 being the female artist with the most hits on Billboard 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.760 Hot Country Song Chart. This is a whopping one hundred 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.160 and six one six songs that hit that chart. But 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:09.920 the second of these records was for having the most 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.520 decades with a top twenty hit on the same chart. Now, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.320 all told, Dollies landed twenty top hits on the chart 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.679 that are spread out across six decades, and that's actually 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.560 enough to beat out other country legends like George Jones, 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:27.360 Reb mc attire and even Elvis himself. That's crazy. So obviously, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.240 now we have an idea of where Dolly is today, 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.040 I think we should take a little time to talk 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.440 about where she started. And that's this rural town in Tennessee. 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.440 It's called Locust Ridge, just next to the Smoky Mountains 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.040 National Forest. And this is important because the concept of 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.479 home has really been the driving force behind Dolly Pardon's 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.200 entire career. I mean, it's something I think we'll see 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.000 throughout the show today. But it wasn't just the location 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.320 that made Dollies earlier so formative. Like her family was 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.080 dirt poor. I mean she used that phrase all the time, 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.240 and so much so that when Dolly was born in January, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.560 her dad she persuaded the local doctor to deliver her 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.640 by giving him a big sack of oatmeal, like that's 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.280 what he traded. I mean, I like oatmeal as much 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.000 as the next guy. But let's be honest about this. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:11.560 I mean, the doctor really got the short end of 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.200 the straw on that one. I think. So there's at 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.039 least one person who might disagree with you on that. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.200 So Dolly is actually the fourth of twelve children, and 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.480 one of her sisters, Stella Pardon, later wrote about their 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.760 father's deal with that same doctor. So this is what 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.080 she wrote. Quote, Daddy paid Dr Thomas a sack of 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:32.120 meal to deliver Dolly. She was an expensive baby. Sometimes 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:35.479 we pay him with chickens whatever we had available. That's 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.480 pretty wild. I mean, I know I'm from generally the 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.040 same region of the country, but I've still always been 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.479 curious about these appellation exchange right, So a sack of 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.840 oatmeal is actually worth more than live chickens. So I 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.320 guess I stand corrected here, Mango. Well, honestly, life in 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.920 locus Ridge was kind of a raw deal all around 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.920 for the Pardons. I mean, Dolly's father was a sharecropper. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.440 He barely made enough money for the family to survive. 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.160 He often had to barter for goods and services, just 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.520 like you know, delivering a baby or health services. The 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.159 um the fourteen Pardons all lived in a one room cabin. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.160 There was no running water, no gas, no electricity, And 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.560 you know that just sounds like a recipe for one 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.080 of the toughest childhood's imaginable, but possibly the worst part 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.200 of it for Dolly was that she and her siblings 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.520 had to bunk together, and these beds made of straw, 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.760 and it was usually like three or four kids to 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.560 each bed. I mean, that does sound incredibly uncomfortable, But 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.400 do you really think that was worse than not having 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.160 running water? I mean, that seems pretty rough. So I 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.640 wondered about that too. But I actually found this quote 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.400 here from UH an interviewed Dolly did with Playboy. This 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.240 is from eight and UH. After you hear it, I 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.240 think you'll change your mind on this. So this is 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.839 Dolly recalling her childhood quote. The kids peat on me 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.440 every night. There were so many of us. We slept 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.039 three and four in the bed. I would wash every night, 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:55.680 and as soon as I go to bed, the kids 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.359 will wet on me, and I'd have to get up 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.440 in the morning and do the same thing. That was 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.080 the only warm thing we knew. In the wintertime, that 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.000 was almost a pleasure to get pete on because it 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.600 was so cold. Lord, it was as cold in the 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.279 room as it was outside. We'd bundle up just to 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.560 go to bed. I mean, it's just heartbreaking to hear that. 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.200 You know, in light of all of that, it's maybe 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.400 no wonder that Dolly took to music at such an 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.160 early age as a way to soothe many of her troubles. 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.240 I mean, her first exposure to music was through her mother, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.560 who was actually half Cherokee, and she played the guitar 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.480 and sang and and she was also exposed to music 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.120 through her grandfather, who was a songwriter and supposedly a 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.880 mean fiddle player in his own right. And so when 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.120 she was seven, Dolly's uncle gave her her first guitar, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.360 and then she started writing some of her first songs, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.760 and apparently she had a real knack for it from 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.960 the very start. In this interview she did with Fresh Air, 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.800 Dolly reflected on how her mother was quote always fascinated 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.320 with the fact that I could rhyme so much stuff. 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.920 That's really sweet. And of course she's still a gifted writer. 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.840 You know, we mentioned earlier that Dolly Parton is semi 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.240 two years old this year. She's been performing for a 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:07.320 solid six decades now. It's just unimaginable, but you know 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.560 that means that she was barely a preteen when she 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.720 launched her professional career. In fact, just three years after 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.280 receiving that first guitar. That's when Dolly was only ten 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.360 years old, she started performing professionally. She made appearances on 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.600 local TV radio shows in Knoxville and and then two 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.760 years after that she performed for the first time on 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.360 the Grand Old Oprey And by the time she graduated 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.400 high school, she'd actually cut recordings with three different record labels. Well, 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.040 there's no question that Dolly found her calling and chased 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.520 it full force from the very start. In fact, I 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.760 once heard her say in an interview that she graduated 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.120 high school on a Friday and then hit the road 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.640 for Nashville the very next morning. That's right, and obviously 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.920 moving to Nashville paid off for Dolly in all sorts 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.080 of ways, not the least of which was romantically, because 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.120 on the very same day she arrived in Nashville, Dolly 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:56.120 bumped into her future husband at the Wishy Washy laundromette. 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.280 He was for a few years older than Dolly and 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.800 a complete stranger at the point, but she was taken 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.160 with him right away, and as she later explained, quote, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.760 I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.160 he looked at my face a rare thing for me, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.760 And two years after that the pair got married, and 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.120 I'm happy to say that they're still going strong some 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.720 fifty odd years later. I mean, talk about imat cute. 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.800 It doesn't get much cuter than the wishy washy laundromat 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.360 is the place where you meet your future husband totally. Also, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:28.079 can I just say how hard it is to talk 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.000 about any aspect of Dolly Pardon's life without almost just 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.160 letting her tell the story. I mean, she has like 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.560 three different charming quotes for every single location, and I 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.200 am trying to be selective here, but I couldn't decide 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.559 between which of these quotes on marriage to include, so 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:43.200 I'm actually gonna go ahead and read both of them. 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.600 So this is from two fourteen, when the Today Show 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.400 asked Dollie about her seecret for staying married so long, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.199 and this is how she replied, we know each other 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.120 so well. I know every line in his face and 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.520 he knows every hair in my wig. I just thought 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.960 that was so cute. And the quote is when she 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.120 and Called renewed their vows in two thousand sixteen, and 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.959 this is what Dolly told the press. We're really proud 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.199 of our marriage, it's the first for both of us 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.520 and the last, which is just so sweet. Uh yeah, 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.800 those are both pretty great quotes. And really, when you're 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.000 talking about someone who has a way with words like 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.720 Dolly Parton's, it's it's kind of a disservice not to 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.040 include at least a few of them. But so getting 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.199 back to Nashville, we we should mention that this is 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.720 where Dolly's career really started to take off. And you 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.320 think about her first two years there. Dolly was under 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.040 contract with Monument Records. Now they tried to market her 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.840 more as a pop singer than as a country singer, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.079 and Dolly actually went along with this arrangement. But on 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.960 the side, she did start recording and selling her own 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.520 country songs, and she was mostly doing this around Nashville. 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.000 So you fast forward a couple of years. It was 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.520 nineteen sixty six and Dolly caught the attention of listeners 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.840 all over the country with a song called put It 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.400 Off Until Tomorrow. Then a year after that, she followed 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.920 it up with a song called dumb Blonde. Now, this 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.760 was a song she wrote about being underestimated based on 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.719 her looks. It was her first solo hit to make 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:10.880 the charts, and it kind of marked the beginning of 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.600 this transition from more regional star to definitely more of 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.040 a national one, right, And I do think it was 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:18.719 around this time that she started partnering up with that 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.080 other country singer, right like I and I've got his 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.280 name in the notes, but it's like Porter or something, Yeah, 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.520 Porter Wagner. This was Mr grand Old Opry himself and 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.640 Porter host of this half hour country music show at 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.320 the time that was called, creatively enough, the Porter Wagner Show. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.600 And so it's fortunate that Porter was the host of it, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:37.480 but he invited Dolly to come on to be a 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.440 regular performer on the show, and the two of them 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.440 also recorded this whole slew of hit country songs over 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.079 the next eight years or so. And in fact, in 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.040 the late sixties and early seventies, Dolly was releasing it 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.880 was like three or more albums worth of new material 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.480 every single year, and that colossal output was thanks in 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.720 no small part to that partnership with Wagner. So I 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:01.720 know the two went through separate ways in the seventies, 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.240 but did you get a sense of what caused that split, Like, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.720 was it over money or songwrites or what what was it? Honestly, 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.679 you know, I think Dolly just became such a huge 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.560 star in her own right, and so she really just 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.480 wanted to focus full time on that solo career for 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.600 a while. And you know, as you might expect, that 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.360 decision created some bad blood between the two of them, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.480 but they did eventually make up some time in the eighties, 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.200 and they even performed together a few times after that. 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.040 But actually, I'm glad you mentioned the Songwrits because that's 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.600 one of the first cases where Dolly showed what a 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.880 shrewd businesswoman she could be. And I say that because 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.280 early in her career, Dolly started her own publishing company, 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.640 and she did this so she could protect the rights 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.080 to that ever growing catalog of songs, and so as 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.920 a result, she owns just about every song she's ever recorded, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.640 and that's of course netted her millions and millions of 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.520 dollars and royalties over the years. That's pretty amazing. I 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.400 feel like I've heard stories of like Michael Stipe taking 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.400 Kirt Cobain or someone aside and telling them about managing 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.160 their rights or whatever, and it's this recurring thing that 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.080 keeps happening. But you know, for Dolly Parton to do 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.440 that such a long time ago is just so smart 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.240 is It's impressing? But you know not, now that we've 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.360 covered the basics in the first half of Dolly's career, 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.440 what do you say we slow things down and go 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.280 a little more in depth about a few of the 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.200 songs that really made her famous. I'm definitely for that, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:36.599 But first, let's take a quick break. You're listening to 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:38.520 part Time Genius, and we're talking about the life and 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.720 times of the Smoky Mountains song Bird, the Queen of Nashville, herself, 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.760 the Iron Butterfly. This is miss Dolly Parton. But don't 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.600 let any of those fancy nicknames for you, because despite 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.720 her fame and success, Dolly's never forgotten her modest roots. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.040 Is that she found ways to channel them into her 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.480 music early on, you know, crafting songs that gave voice 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.440 to these overlooked female perspectives. And this was, of course, 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.080 at a time when country music was largely still a 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.760 boy's club. Now, she took inspiration from the female country 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.600 pioneers that came before her. You think of names like 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.439 Molly o Day, Kitty Wells, and of course Patsy Klein. 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.840 But then she took her place alongside them and became 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.760 this progressive messenger to rural and working class listeners. And 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.560 this would be male and female alike. Yeah, and I 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.160 think you were saying the way that Dolly's background informs 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.800 of music is just such a big part of her appeal. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.200 You know, her ear music can be heartbreaking when it 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.320 focuses on the uglier sides of life, but she never 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.040 seems to dwell on those negative emotions and instead she 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.080 sings about I guess learning from that pain, or you know, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.040 staying positive about what the future holds and when you 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.240 get down to it. Obviously those are universal concepts and 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.160 in fact, there was this article a while back in 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.720 the Journal of Pop Culture and it talks about how 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.960 the people of Zimbabwe are apparently huge, huge Dolly parton fans. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.400 That just makes me so happy. And the good senses 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.720 is that, uh, I guess zimbabweins identifies so strongly with 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.640 her because of how open and earnest she is about 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.760 her own like underprivileged past, and it's pretty pretty remarkable. Yeah, 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.160 I never knew Dolly was so big and Zimbabwe, but 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:14.920 if you, if you stop and think about it, that 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.080 reasoning definitely makes sense. I mean, she even talked about 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.440 that kind of kinship herself in this interview she did 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.680 with Biography a few years back. So she was asked 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.240 about how growing up in poverty prepared her for a 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.680 career as a performer, and here's what she had to 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.680 say about it. I think being brought up dirt poor 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.920 left me with a feeling of what it was like 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.920 to go without, so I can relate when people are 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.880 having a hard time. In my case being a songwriter, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.880 I'm able to write not only four and about myself 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.920 before what I know other people are feeling, even if 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.560 they don't always have the means to get their voices heard. 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.240 Being brought up poor, I recognize and appreciate the value 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.280 of a dollar I never spend without thinking about it. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.320 I appreciate all the things I have because I have 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.480 been without right and maybe one of the best examples 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.760 of Dolly's music being influenced by our hardships of her 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.680 youth is that classic song from nineventy one, Code of 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.560 Many Colors. It's actually based on a real incident from 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.920 Dolly's childhood and tells the story of the time when 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:13.680 her mother stitched a new coat for her and made 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.160 from all these assorted scraps of cloth. And as we've said, 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.600 the family was cash strapped, so they couldn't afford a 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.440 new coat for Dolly to wear during the school year 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.920 that year. But when the colorful patchwork coat was finished, 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.480 you know, it pretty much looked like a big quilt. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.040 I mean to most people, who would have been obvious 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.400 from one look that this was a coat born of necessity. 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.520 But Dolly's mom wanted her to feel proud of who 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.000 she was and where she came from, and really not 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.240 to feel that shame or that constant weight of her 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:44.120 family's poverty. So when she presented this makeshift coat to Dolly, 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.440 she she actually compared it to that story of in 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.560 the Old Testament of Joseph, and I guess that that 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.840 technicolor dreamcoat that that he receives. Yeah, And you know, 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:54.640 if you think about it, Dolly grew up in an 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.520 incredibly religious environment, so that kind of comparison was likely 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.120 pretty impressive to her. I mean, who knows how many 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.520 times she'd heard that story of Joseph while she was 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.360 growing up. Yeah, definitely. And the problem was that Dolly's 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.680 classmates didn't share that sentiment. You know what, when she 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:10.960 showed up at school in her coat of many colors, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.280 the other thought for what it was that, you know, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.920 this clear sign of just how poor the Pardons were. 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.600 And so the other kids laughed, they made fun of 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.560 the code and and Dolly just got totally confused by 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.880 this response, and as she puts it in the song, 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:26.879 and oh, I couldn't understand it, for I felt I 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.080 was rich, and I told them of the love my 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.439 mama sewed in every stitch, but they didn't understand it. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:34.879 And I tried to make them see that one is 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.800 only poor only if they choose to be. Yeah, it's 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.440 a beautiful song, and I know it's one of Dolly's 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.919 personal favorites too, and she even brought it back as 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.000 an illustrated children's book in the early nineties, And of 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.480 course they're more recently as a made for TV movie 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.119 And You're really the songs taken on kind of this 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.360 second life in schools as somewhat of an anti bullying anthem, 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.399 and it just seems very appropriate as that. And so 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.359 all in all, it's not a bad legacy for for 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.520 kind of a ratty old coat, but it kind of 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.359 makes you wonder what happened to the original thing. So 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:07.359 there actually is a coat of many colors in the 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.280 Dolly Pardon Museum, but it's actually a replica of that 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:12.960 coat that her mom made for her. So apparently the 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.400 original was ripped up at some point and the scraps 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.840 were reused to make baby blankets for a few of 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.560 Dolly's siblings. But you know, the replica's there, and it's 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.359 right next to Porter Wagner's laundry slip, which is what 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.280 Dolly had used to scribble out the lyrics when she 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.320 wrote the song. Oh that's interesting, actually, speaking of Porter, 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.440 did you know that that song I Will Always Love 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.399 You was actually written about him? You're talking about that 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.160 Wheney Houston song from the Bodyguard soundtract. That's it. It's 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.679 really a Dolly Parton song. It was not a Whitney 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.679 Houston song. Dolly had written it as a sort of 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.600 a goodbye when she and Porter were parting ways, and 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.480 supposedly he cried the first time she played it for him. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.119 So that does make me wonder, like, how did her 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.600 husband Carl feel about it, because you know, it's a 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.040 pretty romantic song to write about a business partner. It 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.560 definitely is and you know, there were always rumors that 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.359 Dolly and Porter were maybe more than just friends, but 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.320 there was never any proof to back that hearsay. But 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.880 you know, whatever the case, the song was a huge 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.760 hit for Dolly back in nineteen seventy four, and then 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.479 a couple of decades later for Houston in Nino. And 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:15.760 actually there was another big name artists who wanted to 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.200 cover the song in the years in between, but Dolly 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.240 turned him down cold. You might have actually heard of 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.359 this performer. His name was Elvis Pressley. I mean, it 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.360 does ring about so well, why why would you turn 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.920 down the king? I'm curious, Like, I feel like having 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:32.760 him cover your song would just make it huge, right, 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.920 that's true? But you got to think about his notoriously 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.480 bullish manager that I know we've talked about a little 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.199 bit before, and that was Colonel Tom Parker. And it 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.480 wasn't just that he wanted permission to cover the song. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:45.840 He actually wanted Dolly to hand over half of the 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.399