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Is Dolly Parton's Hit Song Jolene Based on Late Husband Carl Dean? Everything We Know About Unexpected Connection
Dolly Parton's hit ballad Jolene was "loosely" inspired by a woman who had a crush on her husband, Carl Dean. Check out the adorable story amid the latter's death.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death.
Dolly Parton’s hit ballad Jolene was loosely inspired by real life! The Country music legend told The Independent during the 2014 Glastonbury Festival that Jolene is loosely based on a woman who had a crush on her husband, Carl Dean.
Dean's death was announced by Parton on Monday, March 3. He was 82. Dean remained reclusive throughout their decades-long marriage. "Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” the singer wrote on her Instagram.
In the 2014 interview, Parton revealed that her husband was spending a lot of time with a woman named Jolene, who had a huge crush on him. She recalled Dean enjoying the attention, whenever he would excuse himself to go to the bank, she knew he went to meet Jolene.
But it became a running joke between them, and they had fun. Parton clarified that Jolene is an “innocent” song and not as dreadful as it might sound to people. The Islands in the Stream singer recalled feeling “threatened” by the aforementioned woman.
“[She] had all that stuff that some little short, sawed-off honky like me don't have," Parton said at the time. She pressed that no matter how beautiful one can be, they are always threatened by other beautiful women.
Regardless of the inspiration, Jolene became the biggest song in Parton’s career to date. It was placed at 63 on Rolling Stone’s 2024 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The ballad was nominated twice for the Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy. Eventually, it paved its way into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
More than 30 artists have covered the song in various languages. Some of them include Miley Cyrus, Mindy Smith, Olivia Newton-John, and others. Beyonce also covered the song for her 2024 Grammy-winning Country album Cowboy Carter.
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