Dolly Parton Jolene meaning: The inspiration and story behind the singer’s famous lyrics

Jolene is one of Dolly Parton’s most iconic songs, covered over the years by artists including Miley Cyrus and Olivia Newton-John.

The song served as the lead single as well as the title track of Parton’s 1974 album, and it quickly became her second hit to reach #1 on the Billboard Country chart.

Although it technically falls into the country category, the song is beloved by fans of all genres for its unique storytelling, something Parton has long since been known for. 

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The song has since become a quintessential piece of music history, and although it tells the story of one woman’s jealousy toward another, the idea for the song struck Parton in an unexpected way. 

“One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl – she was probably eight years old at the time,” she once said in an interview.

“And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. 

“I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.'”‘

And write a song about that she did.

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Inspired by her meeting with the young girl, Parton set off to write a tune with the name Jolene at its centre, and she ended up using an experience from her everyday life to pen the lyrics.

The song’s lyrics were inspired by a red-haired bank teller who flirted with her husband, Carl Dean. 

“She had everything I didn’t, like legs – you know, she was about 6 feet tall,” Parton said in a 2008 NPR interview.

“[She] had all that stuff that some little short, sawed-off honky like me don’t have.”

Rather than try and tear the other woman down, Parton wrote the song with grace and vulnerability, allowing the narration to convey the sense of pain and fear of potentially losing something you love. 

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And it seems Parton is still taking the high road to this day.

Having been happily married to Dean since 1966, she has since even thanked that red-headed bank teller for being her inspiration behind the hit single.

At a Glastonbury show in 2014, Parton spoke about the story behind the song. 

“I wrote that [song] years ago when my husband … was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be,” she said.

“I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry … Had it not been for that woman I would never have written Jolene and I wouldn’t have made all that money, so thank you, Jolene.”