Miss Dolly Parton's in the news again - a lady who has always understood her audience, and is more than well aware of her "cult" status; she's just recorded a new duet with the latest "professional-weirdo-on-the-block", Sia:
It's, well... a bit dull, truth be told.
Far, far better is a number that I first discovered four years ago and, courtesy of Tom Robinson sitting in for Johnny Walker on Radio 2's Sound of the Seventies show, I was reminded of it again today. It's the male vocal version of Dolly's classic Jolene! How fabulously gay is this..?
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green
Your smile is like a breath of spring
Your voice is soft like summer rain
And I cannot compete with you, Jolene
He talks about you in his sleep
There's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene
And I can easily understand
How you could easily take my man
But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
You could have your choice of men
But I could never love again
He's the only one for me, Jolene
I had to have this talk with you
My happiness depends on you
And whatever you decide to do, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him even though you can
Jolene, Jolene
And, as I said back in 2014:
But the best part?Indeed. It is!
...it's by Dolly herself, slowed down from 45 to 33⅓ rpm!
Utterly remarkable.
Jolene is such a sad, anguished song, made even more desperate by slowing it down. I couldn't possibly listen to it if I wasn't in anything but a happy mood (which I am now as I'm not at work and the sun's out!). Still fabulous, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, but despite some of the tragic content of some of Dolly's songs, I cannot take them seriously. And nor, I suspect, does she. One that particularly appeals to my dark sense of humour, every time, is Letter to Heaven... Jx
DeleteSuch a lovely Lady.
ReplyDeleteLove her to bits.
She always has nice things to say about you, too. Jx
DeleteI don't think that sounds like a man, it sounds like Cher!
ReplyDeleteI don't find Jolene a sad song. Especially since I know she didn't manage to take Dolly's man... Assuming either of those people are real!
Factoid of the day: did you know that the low notes (the "Whoah, whoah, whoah" bits) in the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Loving Feeling were actually sung by Cher..?
DeleteJx
PS I'm not entirely sure that Dolly Parton is real, so I am pretty certain Jolene's not.