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6 Classic Love Songs That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do
Sorry, Dolly Parton fans…Jolene was an innocent eight-year-old
Jolene by Dolly Parton
Damn that Jolene and any woman who tries to steal my man. But while Dolly’s song has become a desperate plea to the other woman, the truth behind the song is kind of sweet. (As you would expect from Dolly.)
In an NPR interview, Dolly explains that she was on stage singing when a beautiful eight-year-old girl held out her hand for an autograph. And just like Dolly’s infamous lyrics, the girl had “…flaming locks of auburn hair /With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green.” The girl’s name — Jolene.
But there was also another redhead in Dolly’s life. Dolly explains that a local bank teller was macking on her husband, so Dolly teased him that he was spending an awful lot of time at the bank.
‘I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money,’ she said to her bashful hubby.
The tease was good-natured, and the bank teller’s flirting never skirted propriety.
But as with most creative endeavors, Dolly combined two incidents and got a great song out of it — a song we can all relate to.
