Timeless.
On February 2nd, 1974, Dolly Parton topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with arguably her biggest song to date, “Jolene.”
It written solely by Dolly, and was released in October of 1973 as the lead single off her album of the same name.
Back in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Jolene at #217 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, and then bumped it up all the way to #63 when the outlet revisited the ranking just three years ago.
According to Dolly from an interview with NPR, the song was inspired by a red-headed bank teller who would flirt with her husband, Carl Dean, at their local branch just after the couple became newlyweds. Dolly has also revealed that the name Jolene came from a young fan who asked for an autograph at one the iconic country singer’s live shows.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband, and he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around but sounds like a dreadful one.”
Although she did not win, the song was nominated for Best Female Vocal Country Performance at the Grammys in 1975 and 1976.
The 50 year-old hit has been kept alive and well with numerous covers of the years, including a version from Miley Cyrus, which now has a massive 442 million views on YouTube.
Check out this performance of the 3x platinum certified hit from 35 years ago here: