Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Johhleeeeeeene,
I'm beggin' of you,
please don't take mah mayn
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Johhhleeeeeeeeenee
Please don't taike him
just because youoohooh cayahnnn
Jolene is one of those songs (and there are quite a few now I come to think about it) which make me cry - ooh - almost every time I hear them. I'm going to put it at 83% certainty, more during the third week of the month. But (and this is a big but, unlike Dolly's pert little hootenanny) I only cry at Jolene when Dolly sings it. All the other versions leave me cold.
(Hang on, I'm just going to put it on...)
Are there other songs in which a tiny little Blue Ridge Mountains songbird begs an auburn goddess not to play fast and loose with her mayahhnnn? She admits that she can't compete. 'You can eas'ly take my man but you don't know what he means to me, Jolene.' Heartbreak! Does Dolly not know that auburn haired, ivory skinned, green-eyed women are consistently rated crueller than a bagful of sleepy rattlesnakes?
I'm not sure what the song means for Feminism. Clearly Jolene is a town bike with a difference (she's a looker) but I think that Dolly's decision to approach Jolene directly is a commendable one. My own dear Herself has spent many years trying to get me to have direct conversations with people about important issues (rather than just telling either of my brothers and allowing the info to get round that way) - so I have a great deal of respect for Dolly's dead-straight attitude. And she's at a disadvantage in this fight -as she acknowledges. So she's a scrappy little pugilist, and once again, I usually favour the underDolly (as t'were). So I think part of my response to the song is that Dolly is putting aside her many billions of dollars, Dollywood, the many augmentations, the James Woods movies, the long and happy marriage - and asking another woman to do the decent thing. She clearly didn't got to an all-girls school.
Did it work?
We'll never know. I like to think it did. I think Jolene probably had a bit of a think about it (the guy in question is clearly at least as good-looking as Jon Hamm) and then agreed to leave it this time. After all, Dolly is Dolly. Take away the sequins, the nails, and the rest of the kit, and she's still Dolly. Which of us could say the same?
(and yes, I do have tears in my eyes. Can I turn it off now?)
Dolly. she is an institution. Have you ever seen the video of her playing coat of many colours while finger-picking on the guitar with the longest fingernails i have ever seen?
ReplyDeleteJolene. it is a classic. although i love that one rose grden by lyn anderson although i know it is not remotely the same thing.
when we are in old people's home we can get themn to play those for us for 'the old days'.