Beyoncé released a cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene back in March and it included some major lyric changes.
And now Dolly, 78, is sharing her thoughts on the creative tweaks and has admitted that she was unaware that Beyoncé would be putting her own spin on the 1976 track.
‘When they said she was gonna do Jolene, I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn’t,’ the Pittman Center, Tennessee native, 78, confessed to E! News.
‘But I love what she did to it. And as a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them,’ she said.
‘Well, I think it was very bold of her.’
Parton actually appears twice on Beyoncé’s latest studio album Cowboy Carter, which is her 13th as a solo artist, beginning with the introduction leading into Jolene.
Beyoncé released a cover of Dolly Parton ‘s Jolene back in March and it included some major lyric changes. And now Dolly, 78, is sharing her thoughts on the creative tweaks and has admitted that she was unaware that Beyoncé would be putting her own spin on the 1976 track
‘Hey, miss Honey Bey. It’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sang about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same,’ Parton says like a spoken word.
Once the music kicks in, Queen Bey took a little more aggressive approach in terms of the lyrics, writing in the first verse, ‘I’m warning you don’t come for my man,’ instead of ‘I’m begging of you please don’t take my man.’
In an altogether new line in the cover version she sings, ‘It takes more than beauty and seductive stares / To come between a family and a happy man.’
In another new change, The Crazy In Love star, 42, sings: ‘Jolene I’m a woman too / The games you play are nothing new / So you don’t want no heat with me Jolene.’
The cover version also includes lots of different production changes compared to the original.
Beyoncé goes on to add some other new lyrics, but for the most part the melodies and the feel of the songs are much the same, with the glowing exception of the singer’s being different and that they are 50 years apart.
In the hours after Beyoncé released Cowboy Carter in late March, Parton took to her Instagram page to share her thoughts and approval.
‘Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love Dolly P.,’ she wrote in her statement.
Dolly Parton wrote and recorded Jolene, which was the lead single and title track to her 13th studio album that was released in October 1973
Upon the release of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter in late March, Parton shared her approval on social media, including her Instagram page
Parton wrote and the recorded Jolene in May 1973, and then released it as the lead single and title track to her album of the same name later that October of the same year.
It went on to become the Tennessee native’s second solo number-one single on the country charts.
Considered by music critics to be one of the most representative songs of the country genre, Jolene was ranked No. 217 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and No. 63 on the revised version of the list in 2021.
It also has the distinction of being nominated for a Grammy Award two times for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1975, and then again the following year for a live recording.
The popularity of the song has also crossed over language and genre barriers to be covered by a slew of musical artists in English and Spanish over the five decades since it was first released.
Parton also appears on the song Tyrant on Cowboy Carter, kicking off the track with ‘time to strike up a match and light up this juke joint.’
Beyoncé’s first dive into country music actually blends diverse musical genres such as country, blues, folk, rock and roll, pop, hip-hop, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues.
Fans have embraced the record as a whole, considering it debuted at number one in various countries, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, among others.
‘I love what she did to it. And as a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them,’ Parton recently told E! News of Beyoncé’s Jolene cover. ‘Well, I think it was very bold of her’
The pop superstar grew up listening to country music, in part due to her paternal grandfather, who made a point of bringing the family to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year
In fact, Cowboy Carter became Beyoncé’s eighth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200, while also becoming the first album by a Black woman to top the Top Country Albums chart.
Her three singles: Texas Hold ‘Em, 16 Carriages and II Most Wanted all scored big on the charts as part of the promotional push for the album.
Being born and raised in Texas, Beyoncé grew up listening to country music, which was largely due to her paternal grandfather, who made a point of bringing the family to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year all decked out in the Western-inspired outfits.
In a sign that magic happens more than once, Parton revealed she wrote Jolene on the same day she wrote I Will Always Love You, which appeared on the same album and also topped the US Billboard Hot Country Songs in 1974 and again in 1982 with the re-recording for The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas soundtrack.
Whitney Houston’s pop-ballad version would also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992 after it appeared on The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992.
