Dolly Parton, Jolene, and the power of women talking

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneOh, I'm begging of you please don't take my manJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don't take him even though you can– Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, philanthropist, legendDid Jolene listen? Did he leave Parton’s man alone? Or, did Parton lose her man to Jolene? I say Parton. But Dolly Parton didn’t lose her man—her husband of 59 years, Carl Thomas Dean, who died a year before her—to Jolene. Or, anyone else. People say, the American country singer, philanthropist and simply a legend, Dolly Parton, who died August 25th, was not the same since Dean’s death. It seems to be true. She died a year after her husband passed away. This was a rock-solid marriage. It must have gone through ups and downs, but the partnership and bond was unbreakable.Quite unlike the song that defined her career. Actually, three songs—’Jolene’, ‘I will Always Love You’ (Yes, the one Whitney Houston made famous in the film Bodyguard), and ‘9 to5’—in a glittering career spanning six decades. Parton had the title of the most honored country performers in history, earning 11 Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, nominations for two Academy Awards, six Golden Globes and a Tony Award. Doesn’t seem to be an achievement of someone in one lifetime. But it is.Today though we are going to talk about ‘Jolene’, and only ‘Jolene’. And the raw vulnerability of the song that has inspired innumerable covers, even other versions. We’ll get into all that. But for now, let’s trace the roots of Jolene…Dolly Parton wrote her 1973 hit song 'Jolene' after a red-haired bank teller flirted with her husband, Dean early in their marriage, sometime around 1966. This bank teller was a stunning red-head who spent extra time helping Dean at his local bank. Parton joked that Carl was going to the bank way too often for how little money they had. She even admitted she felt a bit insecure and jealous at the time.Now, the name 'Jolene' is another story. It came from a young fan with red hair and green eyes, who came up to the stage asking for an autograph. Parton loved the name and used it for the song, which was on her mind for almost a decade. ‘Jolene’ was finally recorded in May 1973 and released later that year. The track became her first solo number-one smash hit on the country charts. The rest, as they say, is history.The reason ‘Jolene’ stands out among all her songs is because it bypassed the standard romantic conventions of country and pop music to deliver an unvarnished confession of human helplessness. Sample this:Your beauty is beyond compareWith flaming locks of auburn hairWith ivory skin and eyes of emerald greenYour smile is like a breath of springYour skin is soft like summer rainAnd I can not compete with you, Jolene…At its core, the song captures the acute torment of watching a romantic partner flirt with someone else, an experience that speaks directly to the universal fear of the utter devastation called heartbreak. Parton’s desperate plea to the title character not to take her lover is framed by the haunting phrase: “even though you can”.That is where this song’s genius lies. “Dolly Parton gave us songs that are deeply personal yet belong to everyone. She turned her vulnerability into timeless art,” says Molly Kashyap, businessman, music aficionado, and co-founder of the group National Conservation of Rock – a motley group of people around Delhi/NCR who are keeping the tradition of old rock alive and well through live shows and music gatherings with like-minded people.‘Jolene’ stands as one of the most honest portrayals of romantic insecurity. When sung by a living, breathing legend, it struck a raw nerve of listeners all over the world. For a second, we all feIt that no matter how famous or how common, this could be any woman’s deepest fear.This song feels more human than most songs of any age, let alone now, when “winning” and “moving on” and “getting over” and “revenge” are love tracks that get traction. Sorry, bad pun. But it’s true. Not that any of these emotions are any less valid. But where did romance go? And why don’t people write about the sweet and bitter pain of heartbreak like Parton did anymore?‘Jolene’ also represents a distinct shift from traditional infidelity narratives in popular music. In conventional mid-20th-century country songs about romantic rivalry, interactions between women were typically characterized by anger, moral judgment, or assertions of territorial ownership. Parton discarded these conventions. She structured the song as a direct, one-sided conversation between the threatened wife and the woman who holds her domestic happiness in her hands.The song's power stems from the protagonist's total surrender of personal pride – something utterly missing from the language of love in songs of our times, feels Ranjini Chatterjee, senior graphic designer & visual artist. “In a society that holds little to no room for vulnerability—where women who express their heartbreak are often labeled as “attention seekers”—Dolly Parton offered a sanctuary for many of us. ‘Jolene’ fostered a “women supporting women” mentality against archaic social norms of rivalry amongst women,” says she.Here comes the next lines of the iconic song: And I can easily understandHow you could easily take my manBut you don't know what he means to me, JoleneHe talks about you in his sleepThere's nothing I can do to keepFrom crying when he calls your name, Jolene, JoleneJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don't take him even though you canIn an interview to ‘60 Minutes Australia’, in 2020, Parton said of ‘Jolene’: “Every woman can relate to it, and every man, really. I think women love it because I think there’s somebody out there that could turn the head of the person that you love. I think everybody has that fear, and it happens all the time”.But very few can write it with such raw power. Parton rather than belittling her rival, elevates Jolene’s physical beauty. Says Payal Chatterjee, senior sales executi...