A Son of the Rock

I don’t think there can be anyone who didn’t admire Dolly Parton. For making her way in a male orientated musical genre, for being herself and true to herself, for her determination, for not compromising, for writing (and performing) great songs. And then she parlayed her success into founding the Imagination Library providing books for millions of children. And she contributed a million dollars towards the development of Moderna’s COVID vaccine.

I was surprised on looking it up that she never really had a big solo hit in the UK (Jolene was only a no 7, as was her collaboration with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream; none of her other songs made even the top thirty.)  Yet the songs are so good and so familiar.

This one became the theme song to British sitcom Butterflies (though it was a version by Clare Torry which the producers used on the credits.)

Dolly Parton: Love is Like a Butterfly

The song which probably made Dolly the most money (even though she turned down an offer for Elvis Presley to sing it, which would have involved her giving up copyright,) I Will Always Love You, had its biggest success when Whitney Houston sang it for her film The Bodyguard. Yet to me Houston’s version was overblown and sounded soulless, whereas Dolly’s original was more intimate.

Dolly felt the song. Houston didn’t.

Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You

Dolly Rebecca Parton, 19/1/1946 – 25/8/2026. So it goes.