This Is Who Inspired Dolly Parton's Jolene

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

"Jolene" began a string of number 1 hits for Parton, not just in the country charts but also pop. It wa nominated for two Grammys, one for Best Female Country Performance and another for a live version.

But Parton said there's very little of real life featured in the song. She got the idea for the lyrics when she and her husband were in a bank. There, she noticed a bank teller was giving her husband a lot more attention than usual. Parton realized the teller had a crush on her husband. Dolly made fun of her husband for going to bank just for the extra attention. Parton said it was all harmless fun and later joked to the Independent that she put a stop to the whole thing.

The teller's name, however, was not Jolene. For that, Parton was inspired by someone else. According to the singer, the name in the song title came from a pint-sized fan. As she told NPR, she was onstage and a girl most likely eight years old came up to her. The little girl had beautiful red hair and green eyes and wanted to get an autograph. Parton asked for her name; it was Jolene. Parton repeated the name over in her head and told the girl, "that's pretty. That sounds like a song." And thus, the song "Jolene" finally got its title.

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