One of country music’s sweethearts, Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is a global karaoke favourite. It is ranked at #217 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, and according to Parton, “Jolene” is the song most recorded by other artists out of all the songs she has written in her career.
“Jolene” tells the tale of Parton asking a woman (named Jolene) to leave her lover alone, as she is worried that she going to steal him away from her, due to her beauty. Parton constantly asks Jolene “please don’t my man”, as well as “please don’t take him just because you can”. Jolene is described as having “flaming locks of auburn hair and eyes of emerald green” and is based off a real person – a bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean after they were newly married. She also stated in an interview that the name “Jolene” comes from a fan who climbed on stage during a set to get Parton’s autograph. The song became her second solo number-one single.
There is no set music video for the track, however there is the official audio on Dolly Parton’s YouTube channel, and was uploaded on the 27th June 2017. It has over 18 million views.
Release Date: October 1973
Songwriter/s: Dolly Patron
Producer/s: Bob Ferguson
Label/s: RCA
Charts, Certifications & Awards: From the year 1973 up until 1976, the song reached #6 in New Zealand, #1 in Canada, #7 in the UK and #3 in South Africa. The track also has Gold certification in the US, UK and Denmark. 43 years after its release, Parton won a Grammy Award for “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” for a collaboration she did with an acapella group by the name of “Pentatonix”.
