Dolly Parton''s Jolene

"What do you think DL, is Jolene a coded sapphic ballad?" NO. It's a real incident from Dolly's marriage to Carl Dean

It's a terrific, classic song. One of the American Idol contestants did a decent job with it last season. Sandra Bernhard does her own cover version in her latest show as well.

the original lyrics were: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I'm begging you to eat my lady ham

This is my favorite song of all time. Despite that, I still insist on putting it in my karoke repertoire.

I think the song about love being like a butterfly makes more sense being about two women in love. Man-woman love is hardly a rare and gentle thing.

I think of that damn song everytime I bleach my moustache.

Bump for an interesting take on a classic.

I've thought the exact same thing, OP. It's a lovesong to Jolene, not the unnamed man.

I agree and it isn't about Carl Dean. It's funny you bring that up because I was listening to the lyrics of Single White Female and you could say that about the lyrics for that song as well, very sapphic, despite what it's supposed to be about. Jolene is one of my favorite songs of Dolly's.

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

Your beauty is beyond compare With flaming locks of auburn hair With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

Your smile is like a breath of spring Your voice is soft like summer rain And I cannot hardly refrain from jumping your hot ass, Jolene.

I just about love you, R3.

"I know it's ostensibly about "man stealing", but it's also a song about a woman being thrown into emotional and physical crisis because of the beauty of another woman."

That would make my aria dykey too, OP.

Pathetic fail, r3.

How did you know that, r3?

Who were Dolly's lesbian partners?

R13, R14 = newbies who don't get the obvious reference.

It is kinda dykey, yes.

Jolene a dykey song? uh-uh: Dolly always told the song was about that beautiful female bank teller who she believed was flirting with her husband and how she fought this woman tooth and nail for her husband. Where - Dolly being Dolly - tooth and nail is probably a figure of speech for veneer and acrylic.

How could any woman have been competition for Dolly, then or now?

love the slowed down version so much too

Jack's version.

Whenever I hear this song, I always think of Alia Shawkat and Ellen Page dancing in the Drew-Barrymore directed flick Whip It!

Only adds fuel to the OP

I love Jack White's version.

Somehow I landed here.

Was that Maybe from Arrested Development?

Nothing could be greater than Dolly Parton's hits

Nah, it was from the movie Whip It - about roller derby.

Here's a guy named Cody Belew (The Voice) singing Jolene. This version has gay overtones.

Because it focusses more on the man, R27. Apparently the contestant skipped the first verse, which describes Jolene's beauty and irresistible seductive powers in detail.

Like another poster said, the surrender of the person singing does sound like she is surrendering to the power of Jolene; And sung like Dolly does, it does sound like a song to a woman.

They did a movie based on the song starring Jessica Chastain

she's not a dyke idiot. she's merely giving props to Jolene for her physical attributes and is letting Jolene know that she understands why her man would be attracted to her - not all women are catty. geez!!!!!!!

I can't say I really see it, OP. However, in the video for Scottish female duo Strawberry Switchblade's 1985 cover of the song, it DOES sort of read that way. I doubt it was ever intended as such, but certain visual elements like never showing the man and that our protagonist sort of stalks the Jolene character, watching her from a distance, certainly could be taken that way in retrospect. Maybe I'm the only one seeing it. The single just barely missed the UK Top 40 and did very well in Japan, so the video would not have been totally obscure in it's day; so, if it had a reputation as having a possible lesbian subtext, I would think it would have followed it. Then again, an awful lot that was blatantly gay went totally unnoticed by the general public back then. Here it is, judge for yourself.

Dolly has never revealed who the red-haired vamp was that tried to steal her husband Carl.

Dolly Parton is NOT a breeder!

And I'm just the dame to prove it!

Dolly said in her autobiography that she and Judy have shared a bed together thousands of times.

Mindy Smith's version is beautiful.

I was in Vegas last week and discovered that they now have Dolly slot machines. There's a feature on them that lets you select from among several of her hits to play while you're losing your money. One of the choices is "Jolene," both the traditional version and as a instrumental.

R33, I don't think that breeder means what you think it means.

Jack White is a cunt, and stabbed Jolene to near death. Surprised the song managed to survive after his "interpretation".

Does Carl Dean exist? Has anyone ever gotten a picture of him?

If sung by a man, Jolene tells the story of an elegant but needy and clingy, southern gay gentleman who fears that his former hag Jolene (a sassy redhead who turns out to be a two-bit, conniving strumpet with an agenda) is trying to steal away is gorgeous but empty-headed and easily distracted bisexual boyfriend who suffers both from an Oedipal and Electra complex.

R39

Just listened to the song again. It works very well if you replace "man" with "heart". Parton has it bad for this Jolene...

I bet Jennifer Anniston sang her own adaptation of this song in 2005:

"Jolie, Jolie, Jolie, Jolie. I'm begging of you please don't take my man."

She and her husband look like pals in these photos, not a married couple. There's zero physical/erotic chemistry between them. Looks like a bearding arrangement.

That slowed version of dolly's Jolene is spellbinding. The jack white one is a butchering.

Parton's tits are certainly bigger than her goddaughter's head.

R45 her joke is "My feet are so tiny because they can't grow in the shade!"

R30 = mentally challenged

Okkkkk R46...duh! :D

Do you know if Dolly ever had the luck to get fucked by Billy Ray Cyrus? He was soooooo hot back then. He still is. Did that golden cow managed to put Cyrus in her hillibilly bed? Just wonder.

*manage

Billy Ray is a charming stud. Hmmmm....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT A RIDICULOUS SONG! IT'S REALLY SO PATHETIC. I LOVE DOLLY'S VOICE AND THE MUCIC IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT THE LYRICS ARE LIKE SCREWBALL COMEDY TO ME.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!

I never understood the lesbian rumors about Dolly Parton. Does she really ping to you? I mean, no offense, but she looks like a traditional hillbilly bimbo. She is a great country singer though.

Jolene has really stupid lyrics.

The fact that the singer is acknowledging her rival's good looks (and feeling her own inadequacies by implication) are what's really heart-rending about it. You feel as though she's given up already. Maybe a closeted lesbian who's married for a sperm donor and a paycheck and is now threatened by the prospect of a heterosexual woman who's genuinely hot for her husband (and noting that she'd go for her herself if she didn't need hubby's paycheck.)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA R54. NICE ONE. HAHAHAH!

COME ON! THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST RIDICULOUS SONGS ONE CAN EVER WITNESS.

What the fuck does the singer want to say? That is Jolene's fault that her man wants to taste another pussy? It's not really Jolene's(or every Jolene's beauty)that her man is about to betray her. Why do women even nowdays usually think like that? It's so stupid, if they think that it's the other woman that takes their man away. It's the man's ego and the man's greedy cock that is doing that.

R52, once again, I'll post the interview piece she apparently shared in Europe, a few years ago...

"Parton says, 'When I have sex with my husband these days, I fantasize I am with someone like Keith Urban or a petite, hot young woman.'"

I saw Dolly Parton explain the origin of Jolene on a special about her music.

She said she met a little girl, a young fan, who said her name was Jolene. Dolly was taken with the name and immediately started humming the melody after meeting the girl. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleee-ee-een, then wrote the whole song. It's all a fantasy, based on a catchy name.

Hmm, R56 ok...

R57, in Wikipedia it is written that 'Parton has said that the inspiration for the story was a tall, red-headed bank teller whom Parton believed was flirting with her husband, and her husband's apparent vulnerability to the teller's charm as indicated by his sudden interest in making frequent trips to the bank. In her live performances of the song, Parton often states she fought this woman tooth and nail for her husband. The name "Jolene" came from a beautiful little red-headed girl with green eyes who sought her autograph at a concert.'

Dolly always lands this joke about Jolene in one fashion or another-

How anyone in their right mind can listen to Jolene and come to the conclusion that's it's a song about lesbians is beyond me.

Gee! Jolene is just a stupid bimbo song. It's not a lesbian song. However, i appreciate the fact that it makes me laugh. So, next time when i need to laugh, i'll just bring in my mind 'Jolene'. Hilarious lyrics!

#58, I saw her speak the words about the song origin on the tape, so I will believe that over Wikipedia.

Still, it's possible she's told more than one tale about the song, but because the story I heard is pretty boring, it may be closer to the truth.

Okay R62. Ho capito. :)

*rubs gently R62's back

i wonder if dolly wrote the instrumental intro, but it's menacing. and there's none of the triumph of much of her work.