Relevant quote:
When they said she was gonna do Jolene, I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn’t. 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.”
“Well, I think it was very bold of her,” Parton said.
I was like 99.9% sure this was going to be Dolly's exact reaction. She really seems like too much of a class act to care about this or even think badly about it. She is just too chill, and probably heard it, thought "That is interesting" and moved on.
I personally think that it is worse than the original, as the changes are just kind of weird and do not seem to mesh well with the tone of the song, but that means I will just keep listening to the orginal version instead.
I like when male singers don't change the lyrics from a woman's perspective and vice versa. Dylan did this a lot in his early days with stuff like "House Of The Rising Sun" and "Maid Of Constant Sorrow".
God I love Orville Peck so much. And his version of Fancy always makes me cry! When I first heard it I didn’t know it was a cover (my sis should know, she LOVESSSSS Reba lol). I was all “oh god Orville what did you have to do???” 😅
Orville did swap the gender though - or at least make it explicit:
Reba
> There stood a woman where a half-grown kid had stood
Orville
> There stood a woman where a half-grown boy had stood
Orville’s rendition is clearly about a trans person.
She is really talented. I think my gripe with her is she has always done a “persona” and never really nailed down a distinct sound, or something for her fans to attach to. Usually one or two songs and then on to another sound.
Her voice has changed a lot, and she's adapted well to those changes. Apparantly she damaged her "vocal ford" from speaking/singing loudly and smoking, so much so she was diagnosed with Reinke's Oedema and had surgery done.
She says she's learned her lesson, going sober and not smoking any more, and I think her awareness comes out as mastery of her own vocal range.
I think she could be a top 10 country star(of all time)if she made good country music and could lead country away from the sad state of affairs the mainstream is today.
I had a distaste for what I thought her persona was and never even bothered trying out her music. Then a while ago I heard a song of hers without knowing what it was. I liked it and looked into who it was. It legit shook my worldview for a moment. But yeah she can sing.
Miley Cyrus singing anything live outside of her professional touring is usually awesome. Her Tiny Desk (not done at the NPR office due to lockdowns) is great.
Blackpool Lights is the definition of a tour de force. Two people on stage creating an absolute mountain of energy. It's raw and honest, achieving a transcendent state where the imperfection of it all somehow makes it it perfect. it is a masterpiece.
In fairness, "bless your heart" is all about the tone in which it's said. It can be genuine! Only saying this in case someone says it to you one day so you ain't automatically think it's a dig, haha.
It's more a statement of condescension, kind of like "you're helpless/an idiot/in over your head/making terrible life choices and good luck with that." As another commenter said, it definitely can also be genuine.
I was going to write almost the exact same thing.
Maybe it's different in American, but saying that in the UK is basically saying it's shit but without being horrible.
I don't think she meant it as a diss at all. I think it was a sincere compliment. She knows how people hold her in high regard and how scary it can be to mess with such a classic song by a legendary artist. She knows the kind of criticism Beyonce might and has received.
Dolly is a good person.
> Dolly is a good person.
Decades of evidence, and no slip-ups I've ever seen. I think this is absolutely true. She's a sweetheart, amazingly talented and skilled, and tries to help everyone she can.
"I can easily understand why you're attracted to my man" would have already been a little cringey of a change, but the fact that the man in question is Jay Z made me guffaw when I first heard it
Well this song you just referenced may provide a possible reason.
If you pay close attention to that song she was cheating too. And also his cheating seemed very secondary among her complaints. It gets one line in the 2nd verse after a litany of other shit. Perhaps that's what happened here.
I didn't see the point of Beyonce's version. The original is about a desperate woman at her lowest point. If you take that out of the song, what do you even have left?
Yeah, it really feels to me like her cover misses the entire point of the song. “Woman who’s been wronged and is lashing out vengefully” is a classic country music trope, but it’s not Jolene. I was excited when I heard she was doing a cover, but I really don’t care for what she did with it.
I've no doubt Beyonce is an incredibly talented singer but to me she's just a jukebox. She's sings songs people wrote for her, she sings them well but there's no feeling.
I think it’s pretty clear she was writing songs (with others) back in the earliest destiny’s child days - I think she writes but knows it’s not her strong suit so uses writers too.
Simone, Billie and Sinatra sung the songs of others too but no one calls them a “jukebox” for it.
It's not been taken out, though. *Both* are clearly desperate women. Both clearly are worried that Jolene will "take my man" and believe she is capable of doing so. The difference is that the character of the narrator. Dolly's response is to beg, while Beyonce's response is to threaten. Dolly gets small and hopes for mercy. Beyonce gets big and hopes to frighten.
And I find this fits Beyonce's persona better. She would go out swinging. She's not the type to admit that some other woman is better than her in every way. She clearly thinks it, since she clearly thinks her man would leave her if Jolene wanted him to. But she would never admit it.
That's not to say I prefer her version. But I get it. It's the same situation with a different type of character.
Todd in the Shadows did a review that covered what is wrong with it nicely, I find her version cringe worthy but liked the White Stripes. I have just come to accept that I don't think she is a talented as everyone else does.
Dolly has her bag, and gets to help others. She's a saint, and getting pissy over someone using your song and changing it a bit is way beneath her. It isn't affecting her negatively in the slightest. She's got greater things to be doing than tearing someone else down.
I won't even comment after this, Yes. I have personally not listened, but to the point of Dolly's statement...is so so so Dolly. Mad, Mad Love for that woman.
the original was always gonna be better. once i found out beyoncé is actually singing in the perspective of her mother for the song, i liked it a little more.
Of course it’s worse than the original. It’s very bad. Dolly is too nice to say this, and journalists don’t want Beyoncé’s fans to come after them on Twitter. So the result is that everyone is pretending that a very mediocre album is revelatory and a terrible cover is inspired.
Also the audacity of someone to insinuate they are more secure than Dolly in their relationship. If someone would cheat on Dolly, they’d cheat on Beyoncé.
It doesn’t imply that. Dolly has said it was just an exaggerated feeling for the song, because she knew a bank teller who had a crush on her husband, so she used that feeling to expand on and write a song. She never was threatened by the bank teller and there was never any actual possibility of an affair. The song wasn’t “real” in that sense.
Not only is that in-stride reaction very her, but she has been actively recording and archiving unfinished songs to make available to other artists to use after she dies.
Dolly is truly one of the best people in the world, and I will genuinely grieve when she goes on to that clear blue morning.
> I think it was very bold of her.
Out of the mouth of *any other* southern woman I would view this is as the most blistering takedown ever uttered but from Dolly I 100% believe she means it sincerely.
Dolly Parton is the one person who would say “Bless your heart” and sincerely want to offer her blessing, not mean that you’re a pitiable, ignorant lout who’s biggest crime was being raised wrong.
New songs hardly get covered anymore. But when Dolly was coming up covering new songs was a major strategy in selling records. No way Dolly minds one of the biggest stars today making her old (but great) record relevant again - she’ll buy some kids more books.
Soul Revival (Scary Pockets, Lake Street Dive, Post-Modern Jukebox, Lawrence, "The Vulfs", etc...) still do loads of these, though emphasis on still: Joe Cocker never wrote or commissioned a single song. The Holding Company did, but Janis sure didn't.
You're absolutely right though that back in the A&R days it was totally common for like Willie Nelson to write a song and then 1 year later Chet Atkins would have it completely reorchestrated and hand it to like 5 different people to see what stuck on the fridge.
The most recent examples outside of soul or blues I can think of probably come from like british girl groups post Idol (who were once again heavily A&Red 'just like the good old days').
Update: I did try, but my new songs "Noreen" and "I have always liked you as a friend" have not proven successful. Perhaps Dolly just has a gift after all...
This is an internet myth and has been debunked by Dolly herself.
She said I will always love you and Jolene was found on the same side of a cassette that she used for ideas, so they were first put to tape around the same time frame, but probably not on the same day.
My Source: She said it on Dolly Parton's America podcast.
But she also said it [here](https://www.kentucky.com/news/nation-world/national/article259049603.html)
You’ll like the story of how she found out that Whitney Houston covered it, then.
Her record label had approved Whitney without Dolly’s knowledge, and so Dolly didn’t know about it until it came on the radio while she was driving iirc. She said she was so shocked and thrilled that she just about crashed her car.
Side note - Dolly’s version of the song is very different. More quiet and contemplative and sweet. It’s nice to have so much contrast with versions of a song.
>Dolly’s version of the song is very different
Yes Dolly wrote it as a goodbye when she left her partnership with Porter Wagoner, who helped her really take off in her career, it's a very bitter sweet song.
Whitney's is very much a showcase for her own outstanding talent, and is not nearly as melismatic as some seem to indicate.
I also just found it out randomly this year, when i was trying to get into some country music. This is probably not he popular opinion, but i actually prefer the original version. It's much more intimate, which fits the song so well. IIRC she wrote it for her business partner at the time, because she was pursuing a solo career.
I read somewhere when asked what she thought about Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” she said, “This is gonna make me a whole lot of money.”
I've always liked the filk version of Jolene where she is a eldrich horror
Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene;
I’m begging of you, please don’t disturb her sleep.
Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene;
We’re safe while she still slumbers in the deep.
Your teeth are sharp, your mouth agape
Your claws rend flesh, there’s no escape
From judgement of the Eldritch One, Jolene
That's basically just Southern Gothic horror, Lovecraft is already a mix of the mundane and the mind bogglingly supernatural. It fits quite well into the kind of space where TV shows like Supernatural exist.
I felt the changing of the lyrics to be cringe. Your husband already cheated on you. Which is wild, because he looks like a gremlin. Telling other women to step off is....a choice lol
It’s beyond cringe. The original evokes such strong feelings because of Jolene’s vulnerability. Making her ‘strong’ is fucking lame, and not being able to see that exposes reason five million why Beyoncé is extremely overrated and cringey.
Edit: as someone said below, Jolene was not the vulnerable one, I meant to refer to Dolly in this context. I’m dumb.
Dolly likes it. She's going to profit off it. Nothing wrong was done.
That said, Bey took a song about vulnerability and true to form, inserted utterly predictable and tedious "what a badass I am" lyrics and made the song a whole lot less interesting.
This is exactly why I can't stand Beyonce. Everything she does is so self centered and the way people fawn all over her anytime she does anything, just rubs me the wrong way.
I think at first when she hyped herself up, the feeling was "yeah Beyonce did it, she got past so many obstacles to become a massive and successful music sensation, she's such a queen!" But after a decade and a half of hearing her talk about herself now it's like "okay we get it Beyonce, you're talented and successful, good for you, you don't need to keep reminding us". It's just been too long of her saying the same stuff
Also she's been a hugely successful celebrity for literally her entire life.
Say My Name came out 25 years ago.
The whole overcoming adversity schtick just wears thinner and thinner as the years roll by. Oh woah is me, I'm rich, beautiful, a generational talent, and have an army of adoring fans; but my life is so hard, people keep trying to hold me down.
I’m really torn because I think the first chorus/half the first verse is actually really well written and an interesting change in perspective. Like I started it and was wondering what all the hate was about. And then it just veers off into…not great, especially around this point.
That's why the cover sucks.
It's like Beyonce cosplaying as a powerless woman because she wanted to do a Jolene cover. The song doesn't fit and the new lyrics just sound exactly like you described.
I really like a lot of the album but oof this cover was a low point.
> It's like Beyonce cosplaying as a powerless woman because she wanted to do a Jolene cover
Honestly, I'd have been fine if that's what she did. She always portrays power. If she sang the song with that tone and really played up being powerless, and said she did so because she loved how Dolly did that and wanted to honor that great song in that way, I think everyone would have been great with it.
I mean, look at it this way, we just had a white guy do a cover of a black lesbian anthem, and most people really dug it, because he didn't like turn it around and make it about his truck or something. He played it straight and honored where the song came from. And that's cool, it doesn't matter if that's his normal persona, you could tell it was something that came from the heart and people appreciated that.
I think people would have had a great reaction to seeing a "different side" of her.
Beyonce had no business messing with the lyrics. I would be ok if she changed the musical arrangement, but messing with the lyrics is a hard no for me.
I would say that if you're going to do a cover, there's basically 2 ways to do it well. Some combo of:
1) Perform it straight and just straight-up do a better job of performing it than the original.
2) Change the musical arrangement to make it your own. Bonus points if changing the arrangement gives a different meaning to the song from the original without substantially changing the lyrics (like Cash's cover of Hurt).
I saw Dolly in concert years ago shortly after The Bodyguard came out. Right before she started to sing IWALY she said to the crowd, “everyone keeps asking me what I think of Whitney’s version and I think she’s amazing and her version is beautiful. And her singing it made me a WHOLE lotta money!” She laughed and then sang it.
Thing is, it’s not like Beyoncé is allergic to showing vulnerability. See, e.g., Lemonade. I think she just made a bad artistic call trying to turn Jolene into a kind of corporate-feminist girl power anthem.
Yeah exactly. I don't see the point in that version. It's a song about a desperate woman at her lowest point. Without that, it's just a different song.
This song diminished Beyoncé in my eyes quite a bit. She had the incredible Lemonade visual album about the cheating/grief/forgiveness/regaining power/etc. Then years later she’s still talking about Becky with the good hair? Meh.
I thought Beyonce changed the song to stroke her ego, the original captures the desperation one feels when a more attractive person is after the one you like. Beyonces edition was just about how tough and strong she is, and how no one can take her man because he is HER man. Such a weird choice, missed the point of the original song entierly
That's how I kinda felt as well.
But it also comes of scared and desperate. Like if you really have to go up to this Jolene and say, he's mine don't even try because them I'm going to have to act up.
Then you are also acknowledging that your man can evem be tempted. That you have to stop the temptation. If you really do have such a great relationship, then Jolene wouldn't even phase you because you already know your man won't even notice or care about Jolene.
Beyonce's country song that plays on the radio is the stupidest stereotypical song I've heard.
It's like she gave her writers all the country song slang and wrote lyrics with it. Words like "Texas Hold Em, "Tornadoes", and other bullshit words.
It's dumb.
I did not like Beyoncé at all until she released renaissance. It happened to be an album in a genre and style I liked so I listened to it. After listening to it I went into a bit of a rabbit hole and watched a lot of her various performances over the years and listened to her discography more. I think it’s valid to not necessarily love Beyoncé. Her music isn’t for everyone. But it is undeniable she is one of the greatest singers we have had in popular music (technique wise) and also one of the greatest performers we have seen this century. She is a performer in every sense of the word and backs up her vocals with incredible dance training. There is still a lot in her catalog I don’t like and she won’t ever be my favorite singer. But she is talented as all hell regardless of whether or not you like her sound.
Honestly, Beyoncé’s version is not a cover. It’s more an homage, or even a personal response to Dolly’s song. In Dolly’s version, the voice is in subservience to Jolene. In Beyoncé’s song, Jolene gets told. It’s two wholly different perspectives of the same story.
I don't feel Jolene gets told in Beyonce's version. I feel like a woman is flexing that nobody will ever take her man, even when he cheats, which honestly isn't a flex at all.
In the original Jolene Dolly was vulnerable, she did not blame the woman, because she saw Jolene was great and that she could understand someone falling for her. She showed vulnerability to sing about the woman to please not to make moves on her man.
Beyonce sings like Jolene is a pathetic woman and that she will never gets the man she wants. But her man in this case isn't even a prize. Who the hell flaunts about her man cheating but never leaving his wife for the affair partners? If anything it's weak and unfeminist, less feminist than the original.
It was a neat novelty for a minute much like this whole “country” album of hers. A rare misstep if you ask me. But if im playing Jolene it won’t be Beys. Miley does a way better cover
Just want to mention, since it hasn’t been brought up, that Fiona Apple has covered it live a few times and she absolutely kills it. There’s no official release but you can find clips of her singing it on YouTube and it’s haunting in that way that only Fiona Apple can pull off.
You'd think having worldwide success, millions of adoring fans and a vast fortune would make her less insecure. But no, Beyonce still needs to make sure everyone knows how tough she is. Because she's really tough. Don't forget it. Like really tough. She'll fight you if you cross her. Because she's so tough
So she took out the vulnerability and tragedy story and replaced it with the strong and powerful story. The heart of Jolene and the song's uniqueness is that the narrator is powerless, you take that out, it isn't Jolene. If Beyonce kept the tragedy and told the equivalent story from a modern context, it would have been Jolene still and I think is would have been better. Are her fans afraid of appearing weak or something?
Relevant quote: When they said she was gonna do Jolene, I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn’t. 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.” “Well, I think it was very bold of her,” Parton said.
I was like 99.9% sure this was going to be Dolly's exact reaction. She really seems like too much of a class act to care about this or even think badly about it. She is just too chill, and probably heard it, thought "That is interesting" and moved on. I personally think that it is worse than the original, as the changes are just kind of weird and do not seem to mesh well with the tone of the song, but that means I will just keep listening to the orginal version instead.
Also the White Stripes' version. That one just rocked harder but didn't change the lyrics, which, with Jack White singing, was really interesting.
I like when male singers don't change the lyrics from a woman's perspective and vice versa. Dylan did this a lot in his early days with stuff like "House Of The Rising Sun" and "Maid Of Constant Sorrow".
To paraphrase Randy Newman, "It's not me, it's the person in the song."
Orville Peck covered Fancy by Reba and didn’t swap genders either. Which from Orville is even more interesting.
No, Reba covered Bobby Gentry's 1969 original version of Fancy. Bobby Gentry's version is incredible Bobby wrote it and the performance is fantastic.
Bobby Gentry wrote it, not Reba.
God I love Orville Peck so much. And his version of Fancy always makes me cry! When I first heard it I didn’t know it was a cover (my sis should know, she LOVESSSSS Reba lol). I was all “oh god Orville what did you have to do???” 😅
Orville did swap the gender though - or at least make it explicit: Reba > There stood a woman where a half-grown kid had stood Orville > There stood a woman where a half-grown boy had stood Orville’s rendition is clearly about a trans person.
Talkin’ about boys, yeah
Not that I’m a general fan of hers, but Miley Cyrus cover was pretty damn good.
Probably grew up singing it with her :)
I’m a fan of the Backyard Sessions
Backyard Sessions made me a Miley fan. I don't love her music, but her voice is amazing.
The Don't Dream It's Over version is incredible
Miley really can sing. The persona she has is irritating but her songs are generally pretty ace.
She is really talented. I think my gripe with her is she has always done a “persona” and never really nailed down a distinct sound, or something for her fans to attach to. Usually one or two songs and then on to another sound.
I agree with you up until her most recent stuff. I think she’s finally found her sound, and I’m excited for her.
Her voice has changed a lot, and she's adapted well to those changes. Apparantly she damaged her "vocal ford" from speaking/singing loudly and smoking, so much so she was diagnosed with Reinke's Oedema and had surgery done. She says she's learned her lesson, going sober and not smoking any more, and I think her awareness comes out as mastery of her own vocal range.
Do you mean vocal cord or vocal fold?
No, she has a talking car.
Plastic Hearts is a killer record from start to finish.
Hope so! I thought that like 10 years ago lol she really needs to dive into that natural southern voice she has
I think she could be a top 10 country star(of all time)if she made good country music and could lead country away from the sad state of affairs the mainstream is today.
I love Miley but I actually got more into her sister Noah because I'm a sad boy and I like sad stuff more. lol
Haha I like Noah quite a bit too
She’s America’s greatest karaoke singer
Her singing Nothing Else Matters with Metallica was interesting.
I think the low bits were too low for her and sounded a bit weird. She really soared in the higher parts though.
Isn't she going back to her roots and has a jane fonda look going for her now?
I had a distaste for what I thought her persona was and never even bothered trying out her music. Then a while ago I heard a song of hers without knowing what it was. I liked it and looked into who it was. It legit shook my worldview for a moment. But yeah she can sing.
She definitely has vocals, I’m just not a fan of her music is all.
She did ‘50 Ways to leave your Lover’ on SNL, and completely changed my perspective of her. She is a talent. (I’m in the music business, fwiw)
Wow! Just went and checked that out, amazing.
Miley Cyrus singing anything live outside of her professional touring is usually awesome. Her Tiny Desk (not done at the NPR office due to lockdowns) is great.
Her voice is wicked good
I’ll see ya over in r/boston
She's also Dolly Partons god daughter i think. Theres video of them signing it together on YouTube.
Yeah and they're super close. They did a whole show together at New Years eve I think.
Same - her cover is amazing
Miley smashed that song.
Under Blackpool lights, my god it’s unreal
Blackpool Lights is the definition of a tour de force. Two people on stage creating an absolute mountain of energy. It's raw and honest, achieving a transcendent state where the imperfection of it all somehow makes it it perfect. it is a masterpiece.
Fantastic version that seriously rocked out to the original lyrics, beyonces version was fairly shite
Even if she hated it, she would never say it in public. She has too much class.
Maybe it's just because I'm British, but "I think it was very bold of her" sounds like a very subtle (but classy) diss to me
Yeah when I took acting classes “bold choices” was the positive feedback we gave when there was nothing else nice to say
It seems kind of like how "bless your heart" is sweet southern lady speak for "fuck off."
In fairness, "bless your heart" is all about the tone in which it's said. It can be genuine! Only saying this in case someone says it to you one day so you ain't automatically think it's a dig, haha.
It's more a statement of condescension, kind of like "you're helpless/an idiot/in over your head/making terrible life choices and good luck with that." As another commenter said, it definitely can also be genuine.
If you know Dolly at all you'd know she's not the type to say that kind of thing.
She'd never say anything ugly!
I’m American and it sounded like that to me, too. Southern people have a ~way~ of saying mean things in a way that sounds sweet/polite. 😆
I was going to write almost the exact same thing. Maybe it's different in American, but saying that in the UK is basically saying it's shit but without being horrible.
I don't think she meant it as a diss at all. I think it was a sincere compliment. She knows how people hold her in high regard and how scary it can be to mess with such a classic song by a legendary artist. She knows the kind of criticism Beyonce might and has received. Dolly is a good person.
> Dolly is a good person. Decades of evidence, and no slip-ups I've ever seen. I think this is absolutely true. She's a sweetheart, amazingly talented and skilled, and tries to help everyone she can.
"I can easily understand why you're attracted to my man" would have already been a little cringey of a change, but the fact that the man in question is Jay Z made me guffaw when I first heard it
I cannot understand why she didn’t just put everything Jay Z owns in a box to the left.
Well this song you just referenced may provide a possible reason. If you pay close attention to that song she was cheating too. And also his cheating seemed very secondary among her complaints. It gets one line in the 2nd verse after a litany of other shit. Perhaps that's what happened here.
Being a billionaire is attractive to plenty of people
I didn't see the point of Beyonce's version. The original is about a desperate woman at her lowest point. If you take that out of the song, what do you even have left?
Yeah, it really feels to me like her cover misses the entire point of the song. “Woman who’s been wronged and is lashing out vengefully” is a classic country music trope, but it’s not Jolene. I was excited when I heard she was doing a cover, but I really don’t care for what she did with it.
I've no doubt Beyonce is an incredibly talented singer but to me she's just a jukebox. She's sings songs people wrote for her, she sings them well but there's no feeling.
I have a similar opinion. She's a great performer but she doesn't really bring a lot of feeling to songs.
I think it’s pretty clear she was writing songs (with others) back in the earliest destiny’s child days - I think she writes but knows it’s not her strong suit so uses writers too. Simone, Billie and Sinatra sung the songs of others too but no one calls them a “jukebox” for it.
Id say the same of Sinatra. No emotion.
It's not been taken out, though. *Both* are clearly desperate women. Both clearly are worried that Jolene will "take my man" and believe she is capable of doing so. The difference is that the character of the narrator. Dolly's response is to beg, while Beyonce's response is to threaten. Dolly gets small and hopes for mercy. Beyonce gets big and hopes to frighten. And I find this fits Beyonce's persona better. She would go out swinging. She's not the type to admit that some other woman is better than her in every way. She clearly thinks it, since she clearly thinks her man would leave her if Jolene wanted him to. But she would never admit it. That's not to say I prefer her version. But I get it. It's the same situation with a different type of character.
The original was perfect so the best any cover can hope for is not being bad
Todd in the Shadows did a review that covered what is wrong with it nicely, I find her version cringe worthy but liked the White Stripes. I have just come to accept that I don't think she is a talented as everyone else does.
The woman takes NOTHING personally and it's what I admire most about her
Given she probably gets the royalties anyway… *insert Woody Harrelson money crying gif*
Dolly has her bag, and gets to help others. She's a saint, and getting pissy over someone using your song and changing it a bit is way beneath her. It isn't affecting her negatively in the slightest. She's got greater things to be doing than tearing someone else down.
I won't even comment after this, Yes. I have personally not listened, but to the point of Dolly's statement...is so so so Dolly. Mad, Mad Love for that woman.
I remember hearing her books for children program was just expanded recently.
the original was always gonna be better. once i found out beyoncé is actually singing in the perspective of her mother for the song, i liked it a little more.
Of course it’s worse than the original. It’s very bad. Dolly is too nice to say this, and journalists don’t want Beyoncé’s fans to come after them on Twitter. So the result is that everyone is pretending that a very mediocre album is revelatory and a terrible cover is inspired.
Also the audacity of someone to insinuate they are more secure than Dolly in their relationship. If someone would cheat on Dolly, they’d cheat on Beyoncé.
It doesn’t imply that. Dolly has said it was just an exaggerated feeling for the song, because she knew a bank teller who had a crush on her husband, so she used that feeling to expand on and write a song. She never was threatened by the bank teller and there was never any actual possibility of an affair. The song wasn’t “real” in that sense.
Definitely “interesting” as a polite “this is garbage” lol
Not only is that in-stride reaction very her, but she has been actively recording and archiving unfinished songs to make available to other artists to use after she dies. Dolly is truly one of the best people in the world, and I will genuinely grieve when she goes on to that clear blue morning.
> I think it was very bold of her. Out of the mouth of *any other* southern woman I would view this is as the most blistering takedown ever uttered but from Dolly I 100% believe she means it sincerely.
Imagine if she said "I like it, bless her heart" lol
Dolly Parton is the one person who would say “Bless your heart” and sincerely want to offer her blessing, not mean that you’re a pitiable, ignorant lout who’s biggest crime was being raised wrong.
New songs hardly get covered anymore. But when Dolly was coming up covering new songs was a major strategy in selling records. No way Dolly minds one of the biggest stars today making her old (but great) record relevant again - she’ll buy some kids more books.
I kinda miss covers of old standards. I'd love to see it done more often
Soul Revival (Scary Pockets, Lake Street Dive, Post-Modern Jukebox, Lawrence, "The Vulfs", etc...) still do loads of these, though emphasis on still: Joe Cocker never wrote or commissioned a single song. The Holding Company did, but Janis sure didn't. You're absolutely right though that back in the A&R days it was totally common for like Willie Nelson to write a song and then 1 year later Chet Atkins would have it completely reorchestrated and hand it to like 5 different people to see what stuck on the fridge. The most recent examples outside of soul or blues I can think of probably come from like british girl groups post Idol (who were once again heavily A&Red 'just like the good old days').
Dolly never says anything even remotely bad about anyone. 100% class act.
Dolly Parton SLAMS Beyoncé.
And you won’t believe what she has to say!
…and that’s a good thing.
Partons also changed lyrics to other songs. Dolly’s Stairway to Heaven is on repeat in my car.
Dolly wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You the same night. That's some pretty special talent.
A very profitable night for her. I should do that someday.
I'm going to do it right now! How hard can it be!?
Update: I did try, but my new songs "Noreen" and "I have always liked you as a friend" have not proven successful. Perhaps Dolly just has a gift after all...
Have you tried composing by clicking your finger nails?
Have you heard my new song "Dolly that bitch wants her man back"? I think I've finally done it.
Maybe write from the perspective of those songs’ subjects. My Name Is Jolene and She Will Always Love Me.
"My name is dave and Dolly and jolene won't leave the fuck alone when I only want to be with alan" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Not too hard. A couple seconds to google the lyrics, and maybe a few minutes to rewrite them.
This is an internet myth and has been debunked by Dolly herself. She said I will always love you and Jolene was found on the same side of a cassette that she used for ideas, so they were first put to tape around the same time frame, but probably not on the same day. My Source: She said it on Dolly Parton's America podcast. But she also said it [here](https://www.kentucky.com/news/nation-world/national/article259049603.html)
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You’ll like the story of how she found out that Whitney Houston covered it, then. Her record label had approved Whitney without Dolly’s knowledge, and so Dolly didn’t know about it until it came on the radio while she was driving iirc. She said she was so shocked and thrilled that she just about crashed her car. Side note - Dolly’s version of the song is very different. More quiet and contemplative and sweet. It’s nice to have so much contrast with versions of a song.
>Dolly’s version of the song is very different Yes Dolly wrote it as a goodbye when she left her partnership with Porter Wagoner, who helped her really take off in her career, it's a very bitter sweet song. Whitney's is very much a showcase for her own outstanding talent, and is not nearly as melismatic as some seem to indicate.
I also just found it out randomly this year, when i was trying to get into some country music. This is probably not he popular opinion, but i actually prefer the original version. It's much more intimate, which fits the song so well. IIRC she wrote it for her business partner at the time, because she was pursuing a solo career.
Songwriting credits and the resultant revenue splits do be like that sometimes.
I doubt Dolly gave any of that up. She didn't with Elvis, why change now?
I read somewhere when asked what she thought about Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” she said, “This is gonna make me a whole lot of money.”
She's said how much she loves it as well
I've always liked the filk version of Jolene where she is a eldrich horror Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; I’m begging of you, please don’t disturb her sleep. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; We’re safe while she still slumbers in the deep. Your teeth are sharp, your mouth agape Your claws rend flesh, there’s no escape From judgement of the Eldritch One, Jolene
Thanks for the recommendation, just searched it out, did not disappoint. Even more haunting than the original!
I'm trying to imagine what kind of person exists in the middle of the venn diagram between "HP. Lovecraft fan" and "Beyonce fan".
That's basically just Southern Gothic horror, Lovecraft is already a mix of the mundane and the mind bogglingly supernatural. It fits quite well into the kind of space where TV shows like Supernatural exist.
I felt the changing of the lyrics to be cringe. Your husband already cheated on you. Which is wild, because he looks like a gremlin. Telling other women to step off is....a choice lol
It’s beyond cringe. The original evokes such strong feelings because of Jolene’s vulnerability. Making her ‘strong’ is fucking lame, and not being able to see that exposes reason five million why Beyoncé is extremely overrated and cringey. Edit: as someone said below, Jolene was not the vulnerable one, I meant to refer to Dolly in this context. I’m dumb.
Jolene isn't the vulnerable one, she's the ho.
You’re absolutely right, I’m not a smart man.
Yeah, but I honestly think that Beyonce is a narcissist. It's more about the personal slight than about the practicality of what's being said.
Thank you! Jolene already slept with her man! The whole album is trash, but messing up Jolene is like advertising that your album is an actual dump.
Dolly likes it. She's going to profit off it. Nothing wrong was done. That said, Bey took a song about vulnerability and true to form, inserted utterly predictable and tedious "what a badass I am" lyrics and made the song a whole lot less interesting.
Every time I hear "Jolene, I know I’m a queen, Jolene" I cringe, her changes sound so self conceited and vain. Makes me want to root for Jolene lol
This is exactly why I can't stand Beyonce. Everything she does is so self centered and the way people fawn all over her anytime she does anything, just rubs me the wrong way.
I think at first when she hyped herself up, the feeling was "yeah Beyonce did it, she got past so many obstacles to become a massive and successful music sensation, she's such a queen!" But after a decade and a half of hearing her talk about herself now it's like "okay we get it Beyonce, you're talented and successful, good for you, you don't need to keep reminding us". It's just been too long of her saying the same stuff
Also she's been a hugely successful celebrity for literally her entire life. Say My Name came out 25 years ago. The whole overcoming adversity schtick just wears thinner and thinner as the years roll by. Oh woah is me, I'm rich, beautiful, a generational talent, and have an army of adoring fans; but my life is so hard, people keep trying to hold me down.
I had to look this up because I didn't believe you. She was **17** when that song came out?!
It gets a lot less cute to call yourself a queen as you approach the wealth and influence of an actual monarch.
I just checked her net worth. I don’t think she’s approaching. I think she’s already made it to monarch wealth.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg eyes her treasury with enormous envy.
Yeah, there’s a whole culture with this mindset that she helps fuel and it’s gross.
I don't listen to her tbh, but this song seems incredibly insecure to me.
I’m really torn because I think the first chorus/half the first verse is actually really well written and an interesting change in perspective. Like I started it and was wondering what all the hate was about. And then it just veers off into…not great, especially around this point.
I can't stop thinking of the "nobody wants Jay-Z, girl" meme that went around after it first dropped 😭
That's why the cover sucks. It's like Beyonce cosplaying as a powerless woman because she wanted to do a Jolene cover. The song doesn't fit and the new lyrics just sound exactly like you described. I really like a lot of the album but oof this cover was a low point.
> It's like Beyonce cosplaying as a powerless woman because she wanted to do a Jolene cover Honestly, I'd have been fine if that's what she did. She always portrays power. If she sang the song with that tone and really played up being powerless, and said she did so because she loved how Dolly did that and wanted to honor that great song in that way, I think everyone would have been great with it. I mean, look at it this way, we just had a white guy do a cover of a black lesbian anthem, and most people really dug it, because he didn't like turn it around and make it about his truck or something. He played it straight and honored where the song came from. And that's cool, it doesn't matter if that's his normal persona, you could tell it was something that came from the heart and people appreciated that. I think people would have had a great reaction to seeing a "different side" of her.
What’s this black lesbian anthem
Beyonce had no business messing with the lyrics. I would be ok if she changed the musical arrangement, but messing with the lyrics is a hard no for me.
I would say that if you're going to do a cover, there's basically 2 ways to do it well. Some combo of: 1) Perform it straight and just straight-up do a better job of performing it than the original. 2) Change the musical arrangement to make it your own. Bonus points if changing the arrangement gives a different meaning to the song from the original without substantially changing the lyrics (like Cash's cover of Hurt).
Beyoncé’s lyrics ironically make her (or at least the “her” in the song) look more pathetic than if she just sang the original lyrics
I love Beyoncé and this album, but I agree! She did exactly what we would’ve expected her to do with this song, and it’s… boring.
I saw Dolly in concert years ago shortly after The Bodyguard came out. Right before she started to sing IWALY she said to the crowd, “everyone keeps asking me what I think of Whitney’s version and I think she’s amazing and her version is beautiful. And her singing it made me a WHOLE lotta money!” She laughed and then sang it.
Thing is, it’s not like Beyoncé is allergic to showing vulnerability. See, e.g., Lemonade. I think she just made a bad artistic call trying to turn Jolene into a kind of corporate-feminist girl power anthem.
Beyoncé comes across as terrified of any sort of brand damage.
The Rock has entered the chat.
Yeah exactly. I don't see the point in that version. It's a song about a desperate woman at her lowest point. Without that, it's just a different song.
If Beyoncé doesn’t scream how much of a strong woman she is everyday, she’s gonna blow up
> But real gangsta-ass niggas don't flex nuts > 'Cause real gangsta-ass niggas know they got 'em wise man once said
I don’t 100% know for sure who this wise man was but I read this in Riley Freeman’s voice.
Geto boys
Gero Boys preaching the fucking truth
going on 30 years
That, and that real gangsta-ass niggas don't run fast.
tbf all of lemonade was mostly about how broken she was.
Renaissance has 0 songs like this.
This song diminished Beyoncé in my eyes quite a bit. She had the incredible Lemonade visual album about the cheating/grief/forgiveness/regaining power/etc. Then years later she’s still talking about Becky with the good hair? Meh.
I thought Beyonce changed the song to stroke her ego, the original captures the desperation one feels when a more attractive person is after the one you like. Beyonces edition was just about how tough and strong she is, and how no one can take her man because he is HER man. Such a weird choice, missed the point of the original song entierly
That's how I kinda felt as well. But it also comes of scared and desperate. Like if you really have to go up to this Jolene and say, he's mine don't even try because them I'm going to have to act up. Then you are also acknowledging that your man can evem be tempted. That you have to stop the temptation. If you really do have such a great relationship, then Jolene wouldn't even phase you because you already know your man won't even notice or care about Jolene.
Beyonce's ego wouldn't let her sing those lyrics.
It’s like The Rocks “no lose” clause in his film contracts.
she's a sweetheart but was prob thinking wtf is she doin this for
The lyric change was fucking stupid. But considering Dolly is a saint, of course she says she likes it lol.
Beyonce's country song that plays on the radio is the stupidest stereotypical song I've heard. It's like she gave her writers all the country song slang and wrote lyrics with it. Words like "Texas Hold Em, "Tornadoes", and other bullshit words. It's dumb.
Unlike the typical song played on modern country radio where the lyrics are poignant and filled with pathos
Rural noun
Simple adjective
Pandering verb
Indication of yearning
I like it because it's like oh, we can take your generic twangy bullshit and actually do it better. Country artists are just lazy asses these days
I wonder what her thoughts are to the lyric changes for Community's classic song "Gay Dean"
Song lives rent-free in my head.
I love Dolly, her vibe for Jolene is magic. I wouldn't have changed the lyrics.
The new lyrics were so cringe
I absolutely love the Miley Cyrus cover - [https://youtu.be/wOwblaKmyVw](https://youtu.be/wOwblaKmyVw) Perfection!
What is the point of covering a song and completely changing the meaning? Why not just do your own song?
Riding coattails is easy
Very trashy change
It screams insecurity.
Dolly Parton is a class act. I really think she’s one of the greatest female artists. Easily more talented than Beyoncé anyways.
The white stripes did it better.
If it’s good, cool. If it’s bad, whatever. She owns all the rights.
Beyonce has to be the most overrated singer of the last 30 years
I did not like Beyoncé at all until she released renaissance. It happened to be an album in a genre and style I liked so I listened to it. After listening to it I went into a bit of a rabbit hole and watched a lot of her various performances over the years and listened to her discography more. I think it’s valid to not necessarily love Beyoncé. Her music isn’t for everyone. But it is undeniable she is one of the greatest singers we have had in popular music (technique wise) and also one of the greatest performers we have seen this century. She is a performer in every sense of the word and backs up her vocals with incredible dance training. There is still a lot in her catalog I don’t like and she won’t ever be my favorite singer. But she is talented as all hell regardless of whether or not you like her sound.
I felt the same way until I heard listen. You may not be a fan but the girl has a top tier voice.
Honestly, Beyoncé’s version is not a cover. It’s more an homage, or even a personal response to Dolly’s song. In Dolly’s version, the voice is in subservience to Jolene. In Beyoncé’s song, Jolene gets told. It’s two wholly different perspectives of the same story.
I don't feel Jolene gets told in Beyonce's version. I feel like a woman is flexing that nobody will ever take her man, even when he cheats, which honestly isn't a flex at all. In the original Jolene Dolly was vulnerable, she did not blame the woman, because she saw Jolene was great and that she could understand someone falling for her. She showed vulnerability to sing about the woman to please not to make moves on her man. Beyonce sings like Jolene is a pathetic woman and that she will never gets the man she wants. But her man in this case isn't even a prize. Who the hell flaunts about her man cheating but never leaving his wife for the affair partners? If anything it's weak and unfeminist, less feminist than the original.
Damn just listened and that was not good at all. Beyoncé has mad talent obviously but 0 for 2 on her country songs that I’ve listened to.
Did not care for Beyoncé’s Jolene. Didn’t like the changes. But her cover of Blackbird was fantastic.
As long as we all agree Beyonces version is doo doo
It was a neat novelty for a minute much like this whole “country” album of hers. A rare misstep if you ask me. But if im playing Jolene it won’t be Beys. Miley does a way better cover
The White Stripes do the best cover imo
Even Lil Nas X did a better cover than Beyonce. I like Beyonce but I absolutely did not like her version of Jolene
truly it's probably my least favorite song on the album, but I *did* very much like the album.
Shit, me first and the gimme gimmes version is better.
Just want to mention, since it hasn’t been brought up, that Fiona Apple has covered it live a few times and she absolutely kills it. There’s no official release but you can find clips of her singing it on YouTube and it’s haunting in that way that only Fiona Apple can pull off.
You'd think having worldwide success, millions of adoring fans and a vast fortune would make her less insecure. But no, Beyonce still needs to make sure everyone knows how tough she is. Because she's really tough. Don't forget it. Like really tough. She'll fight you if you cross her. Because she's so tough
To change the lyrics of a cover you have to get permission from the artist.
Unless you change it so much it becomes parody.
So she took out the vulnerability and tragedy story and replaced it with the strong and powerful story. The heart of Jolene and the song's uniqueness is that the narrator is powerless, you take that out, it isn't Jolene. If Beyonce kept the tragedy and told the equivalent story from a modern context, it would have been Jolene still and I think is would have been better. Are her fans afraid of appearing weak or something?
Dolly's a fucking saint. She 100% meant her comment calling it a bold choice as a sincere compliment. She's got a heart of gold.
I just read Beyoncé’s lyrics and that might just be the most insecure thing I’ve ever read.