Dolly Parton Reveals Secrets Behind ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’: ‘I Just Love When That Spark Happens’
The Queen of Country has composed thousands of songs! In her ‘Songteller’ book, she shares the meaning—and magic—behind some of her favorites
Key Takeaways
- Dolly shares song secrets in her 2020 book 'Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.'
- 'Coat of Many Colors' was inspired by Dolly's childhood; the song teaches acceptance.
- Hits 'Jolene' and 'I Will Always Love You' were likely written on the same day.
Ever wondered what Dolly Parton was thinking when she wrote ‘Jolene’? Or what inspired ‘Coat of Many Colors‘? For more than six decades, Dolly has enchanted the world with her remarkable voice, iconic style and charismatic personality. But years before her sparkling stage presence emerged, Dolly was just a girl growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee—a girl who grew up to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
In 2020, Dolly released Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, a 370-page tome filled to the brim with stories and secrets behind some of her most beloved songs. If you’ve always been curious about what Dolly was thinking when she wrote ‘9 to 5,’ ‘I Will Always Love You’ and more, you’re in for a treat!
Here, we handpicked 5 fan-favorite Dolly Parton songs—in no particular order—and dug into their fascinating history. Keep reading to discover a little more about your favorite Dolly songs—in her own words!
Dolly Parton’s songwriting process: ‘I write a lot from my own heart’
Dolly was born on January 19, 1946 and according to her family, she began writing songs as a toddler and performing for people around age 8. She famously made her Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 13. Introduced by the one-and-only Johnny Cash, Dolly sang George Jones’ ‘You Gotta Be My Baby’ and received three encores.
“As a songwriter, I am influenced by everything around me—by the people around me, by the feelings of people I know and by my own joys and sorrows,” Dolly writes in Songteller. “I write a lot from my own heart. But I also just have a big imagination. When I was young, we didn’t go to the movies, so I just created my own stories. It’s kind of embedded in me to make up songs and stories.”
The stories behind the songs: ‘Coat of Many Colors’—a lesson in love and acceptance
Released in 1971, ‘Coat of Many Colors’ rose to No. 4 on the country charts and was the title track of a Top 10 hit country LP the following year. This cherished song has been covered over the years from fellow country stars like Shania Twain and Alison Krauss, but the idea for the song goes all the way back to Dolly’s childhood. Dolly’s family grew up very poor, but one day her mom made her a coat—and told her a story about the coat.
“My mom made me this little coat,” Dolly writes. “In order to make me proud of that little coat, I know now, she told me the story about Joseph from the Bible and his coat of many colors.” Unfortunately, the kids at Dolly’s school didn’t see that and she was bullied about the coat. This traumatic moment made such an impact on her and the song came about many years later.
“That little song is like a world of things. It teaches about bullying, about love, about acceptance, about good parents,” Dolly writes. “That little story has even been written into a schoolbook to teach children about being different. You have to accept everything and everyone.”
Dolly’s ‘Blue Ridge Mountain Boy’ is a nod to her beloved husband Carl Dean
In 1969, Dolly released ‘Blue Ridge Mountain Boy’ and it landed at No. 45 on the country charts. The song is considered one of Dolly’s deeper cuts and it’s about her beloved husband Carl Dean—Carl adored Dolly, but he famously didn’t adore the spotlight.
“‘My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy,’ is about a girl whose dream was to get out of the country,” Dolly writes. “A lot of people don’t realize I put my husband on the cover of the album.”
How ‘I Will Always Love You’ became Dolly’s heartfelt goodbye to Porter Wagoner
An undisputed favorite among many Dolly fans, ‘I Will Always Love You’ was a No. 1 country hit when it was released in 1974 off the Jolene album. Dolly even recorded it for the soundtrack of her 1982 movie with Burt Reynolds, The Best Little Whore House in Texas. Then, 10 years later it was famously covered by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard.
But what was Dolly’s inspiration when she first wrote it? Well, it is a break up song, but not a romantic one. She originally wrote this song about trying to free herself from working exclusively with her musical collaborator Porter Wagoner.
Dolly spent seven years performing alongside him on The Porter Wagoner Show, the TV series that helped introduce her to a national audience. She said, one day she just knew it was time to move on. Instead of arguing, Dolly wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a heartfelt goodbye and thank you for everything they’d shared.
“The song came straight from the bottom of my heart,” Dolly writes. “When I started to sing the song, he [Porter] started to cry. He knew that I had been crying when I wrote it. He got it. He said, ‘That’s the best song you ever wrote. And you can go, if I can produce that song. I said, ‘it’s a deal!’
“Now that song is going to live forever,” she continues writing. “I thank Porter for that song.”
The real story behind ‘Jolene’—inspired by a pretty bank teller
Out of Dolly’s hundreds of released songs, 1973’s ‘Jolene’ remains the one that is most performed by others. This tune was another No. 1 hit for Dolly—and she even eventually won a Grammy for it in 2017. The fruition of Jolene began during Dolly’s touring days with Porter. A fan asked for an autograph, saying ‘Would you sign this ‘to Jolene?’ Dolly was so struck by the beautiful name that she tucked it away in her mind for safekeeping.
“Then I came up with a story that I knew women could relate to. Of course, then I thought of a story loosely based on Carl flirting with a girl down at the bank, which was true,” Dolly writes. “I went down there, and she was pretty. And he was flirting. And I made the whole thing into my song’s lyric.”
A jaw-dropping fun fact: Dolly says she may have written ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’ on the same day. “When we were going through all my old tapes to put my songs on hard drives, we found that ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Jolene’ were on the same cassette tape, back-to-back…it very well could have been on the same day.”
How Dolly wrote ‘9 to 5’ using just her fingernails as a typewriter
Dolly’s high-energy and infectious ‘9 to 5’ became one of her biggest crossover hits in the 1980s. The fun, upbeat tune brought Dolly’s songwriting into the pop sphere for the very first time. It also went No. 1 on country and adult contemporary radio, won two Grammys and earned an Oscar nomination.
Dolly wrote ‘9 to 5’ during the filming of the movie of the same name—her first major film role. The comedy starred Dolly alongside Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. Dolly recalled the long wait times on set and how she used that time to write. “I would just take my nails and make them sound like a typewriter,” she writes. “Off by myself, I would click my nails and use that sound as my music. I wrote ‘9 to 5’ in my head that way. I’d go back to my hotel at night and put down what I had written that day…”
“Over a long period of time, I wrote the song on my nails. I’m famous for that now. Every time I go on TV, I have to ‘play’ my nails like a typewriter.”
Want to know all the secrets behind the songs? Pick up Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton and Robert K. Oerman to read all the magical musical stories.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
