A few  hit songs have the privilege, or the misfortune, of having more than one story or tale of how that song was created or where the idea for the tune came from. Such is the case of Dolly Parton’s  1973 number one, “Jolene.”

In a 1980’s interview it was noted that a young girl scout met Porter Wagoner at a Porter/Dolly concert and gave Porter an autographed photo of herself inscribed, “Love, Jolene” and Porter later gave the photo to Dolly, who was impressed by the photo and the name “Jolene.”  Another history book notes that the young lady named “Jolene” gave the autographed photo to Dolly herself backstage at a concert and the child and her name inspired Dolly to write the song.

And in a 1990’s interview, one of Dolly’s kinfolk reported that “Jolene” was actually a bank teller in Nashville, Tennessee, who was exhibiting more than normal interest in Dolly’s husband, Carl Dean.  Dolly reportedly confronted the lady teller in the bank and the heated discussion which followed resulted in Dolly losing her wig!

But regardless of the inspiration for “Jolene,” the RCA Victor single entered the country music charts November 3^rd, 1973 and made it to number one the week of February 2^nd, 1974. It was Dolly’s 34^th charted song and was on the charts for 19 weeks.   The single also scored a # 60 on the pop charts.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics