Dolly Parton’s late husband served as inspiration for one of the country music star’s biggest hits.
Carl Dean, who died March 3, caught the eye of a bank teller in the 1970s – leading Parton to write “Jolene.” The song begs another woman not to take her man and is really “an innocent” song, according to the country crooner.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008.
“And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention,” the “Islands in the Stream” singer recalled. “It was kind of like a running joke between us when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
DOLLY PARTON’S HUSBAND, CARL DEAN, DEAD AT 82
However, the title of the song came from a different real-life experience for Parton.
“One night I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl,” the musician told NPR. “She was probably 8 years old at the time. And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, and beautiful green eyes. And she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. And I said, ‘Well, you’re just the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen.’ I said, ‘What is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’”
“And I said, well, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I said, that is pretty, I said, that sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.”
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“Jolene” became one of Parton’s first hit singles after being released in 1973. The song hit the top of Billboard’s country music chart and other artists have covered the song, including her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, and Beyoncé. Beyoncé’s “Jolene” cover, which was featured on her Grammy-winning “Cowboy Carter” album, broke the top 10 of the Billboard chart last April.
“It’s a great chord progression, people love that ‘Jolene’ lick,” Parton told NPR at the time. “It’s as much a part of the song almost as the song. And because it’s just the same word over and over, even a first-grader or a baby can sing, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.’ It’s like, how hard can that be?”
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Parton announced Monday her 82-year-old husband had died in Nashville.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she wrote in a statement shared to Instagram. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family in attendance.
Parton first met Dean at a laundromat when she was 18 and he was 21. They married in 1966. He was rarely seen by Parton’s side but always played a strong supporting role in his wife’s life.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
