PROJECTOR WHIRS
# Here I am
# Here I am. #
MUSIC FADES OU A CAPPELLA: # Here I am. #
Well, if I was trying to describe
myself to someone that had
never seen me before,
I would say, "Calm down."
MUSIC: 9 to 5
by Dolly Parton
"Don't be scared, it's just me."
"I know I look totally bizarre
and artificial,
"but I'm totally real inside."
SHE YELLS EXCITEDLY
Dolly does have a cartoon image.
I don't know if that's sometimes
to her detriment that she depends
on that gag, or she's just getting
in there before anyone else does.
MUSIC: Jolene
by Dolly Parton
You can't take
the Tennessee out of the girl.
Now, that's as far as
I'll go with that, though.
CROWD LAUGHS
She gives away very little.
There's a mystery about her.
# Your smile is like
a breath of spring
# Your voice is soft
like summer rain
# And I cannot compete
with you, Jolene. #
Sorta like that!
The hot dogs are ready!
I never really tried to hide
myself from anybody.
I think that's one of the reasons
I'm still around -
people feel like they know me.
# Little sparrow... #
CROWD CHEERS
# Little sparrow. #
Dolly Parton is one of the most
phenomenal songwriters, I...
Breasts included!
# And I, I-I will always... #
I actually take my songwriting more
serious than anything else I do.
So I would say
I am a songwriter first.
# I will always love you. #
It's my way of expressing myself,
it's my therapy.
You have to search for a long time,
cos I've written a lot of songs,
but, yes, there are pieces of me,
of course, in everything I write.
Hey-hey! How's everybody? Hi there!
CROWD CHEERS IN DISTANCE
Hey. We're back!
When I was young, we always used
to listen to the Grand Ole Opry,
and everybody would say, "That's
where you've got to go if you're
"a country star if you want to try
and make it in the business."
So that was always just my aim,
sort of like how Broadway people
go to New York.
Well, Nashville was
the Grand Ole Opry.
# Velvet cushion seats
and soft arm rests... #
It is amazing to me, thinking back
on my life as a little girl
when I wanted to be
on the Grand Ole Opry so bad.
Now, here I am, 50 years later
and we're celebrating
my 50th year on the Grand Ole Opry.
I am so honoured.
# Up on the silver screen
I picture me... #
Hi, everybody!
# Living out of my passions,
hopes and fantasies. #
Well, it's nearly showtime!
It is! Whoo!
And you thought it was easy
being in show business.
I got people all over me.
BAND REHEARSES
It's fun having us all back
together, ain't it? Yes, it is.
I mean, we've all been at this
at least 50 years, right?
Some of you people looking
really good for my age!
LAUGHTER
I'm older than America.
SHE CHUCKLES
People just know that I'm going
to be there and that I'm going
to have fun with it and I'm going
to try to help them have fun.
# Just to watch 'em shatter
# You're just a step on
the boss man's ladder
# But you got dreams he'll
never take away... #
I've done so many things.
I've been around a long time.
I guess it's just kind of, I feel
like a family member to most people.
# The tide's gonna turn
and it's all gonna roll you away. #
I just know it!
WHISTLING AND WHOOPING,
WHIP CRACKS
Yeah...!
# Well, good mo-o-o-orning,
Captain... #
I came here early on
the Saturday morning
with my little beat-up
suitcase of songs
and my little old guitar
and ragged little clothes.
# Good morning to you, sir
# Hey, hey, yeah... #
WHISTLING, WHIP CRACKS
I was hungry.
Cried myself to sleep every night.
But I did learn early on that you
really had to stand up
for yourself -
especially being a girl in business
at that time,
and a country girl that did
look like a dumb blonde.
# Yodel-a-ee
# Hee-hee... #
Dolly, thanks for coming in.
Well, thank you for inviting me.
It's a pleasure to be with you.
Can we start by talking
about the biggest thing about you?
Well, now, what would that be?
I think your determination.
CHUCKLES: OK.
You scared me for a minute.
You know, well,
what would we like to talk about?
I do definitely have a lot
of determination, I just wanted
to accomplish everything that
I possibly could in my life.
I feel that we are all here
for a reason
and I aim to put everything
that I can into my life.
# Yee-hee hee-hee-hee hee
# Mule skinner blues. #
My first meeting with Dolly Parton
was sometime in the middle of 1964.
A producer from upstairs
at Capitol Records brought her down,
and he said, "I want you to meet
this girl singer," he says,
"She's got so much talent. I can't
get anyone interested in her."
Dolly was just a beautiful
little 18-year-old girl who seemed
quite naive and uneducated.
Her language was kind of crude
and gutter language, you know,
for guys,
and didn't seem to match her.
The first time I saw Dolly,
I thought, "This is a teenager."
She was very pleasant,
she was, you know,
seemed happy to meet us
and then she started to sing
and it was, "Whoa!"
# You kindle the fire of love
inside me... #
She wasn't a bit bashful either
when it came to singing...you know.
Because that's a lot of what
this business takes -
you have to believe you have
something to offer,
and I think she believed it.
# You must know how I feel... #
When I started out, it never crossed
my mind I couldn't do it
because I was a woman.
I was just going to do what I did,
what I felt I did best,
and I never once thought that
that was going to ever,
you know, not work for me.
And I didn't care.
I wasn't afraid of anybody.
I mean, what was you going
to do to me?
You going to kill me? And if you
kill me, what are you going to do?
Eat me? Are you going
to cook me and eat me? No.
I mean, it's like I'll either
succeed or I will fail.
# Don't try to cry
# Your way out of this
# And don't try to lie
# Or I'll catch you... #
Back in the day
when she started out,
it must have been really tough
to be a woman in this industry,
but she became
a kind of pioneer for feminism.
Dolly was able to deliver a feminist
message pretty much in disguise.
# This dumb blonde
ain't nobody's fool... #
You underestimate
Dolly at your peril,
and Dumb Blonde is a perfect way
to launch a career.
She's so smart.
# Somehow I lived through it
# And you know if there's one thing
this blonde has learned
# Blondes have more fun... #
Dumb Blonde was
my first chart record,
and Curly Putman wrote the song.
He wrote it for me to record,
and that was perfect for me,
because it does say,
"Just because I'm blonde,
"don't think I'm dumb, cos this
dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool."
Everybody thinks I wrote that song,
and I would have.
I could have. I should have.
# Just because I'm blonde
don't think I'm dumb
# Cos this dumb blonde ain't
nobody's fool. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you very much.
CHURCH BELLS RING
I went to the laundromat.
The first time I'd ever been
in a laundromat.
Took my little dirty clothes
I'd brought from home,
and it was called
the Wishy Washy Washateria.
And so I met my husband that first
day, which I've always joked
about that, that it's been
wishy-washy ever since!
Dolly was not looking for a husband
when she came to Nashville.
She was looking for a career.
It so happened that she met Carl
early on
and they did date for a couple
of years and then got married.
# How I love to run backward
through the meadow... #
Her producers also did not
want her to get married,
and she went ahead
and did it anyway,
because when Dolly wants to do
something, I think she does it.
She kept the marriage a secret
for a year,
but I think that was also
very clever,
because she demonstrated
to her producers that
she could in fact have
a marriage and still be successful.
# For I love every minute
that I live in this big world
# And I want to see
all there is to see... #
SHE HUMS TUNE
# Yes, I want to see
all there is to see. #
She knew very early on in her career
that she was going to have to
carve out boundaries before
she got eaten alive.
But it's like she foresaw
her whole career and said,
"This is what I'm going to do
"to keep my sanity,
my privacy and my space."
I've never seen Carl Dean,
nor ever met him.
I know he exists, but I don't know
anybody that's ever seen Carl Dean.
He didn't go to any shows with her.
I never met the man,
so I don't know anything about him.
Carl Dean?
Yes, I know Carl...
Why do I know Carl Dean?
I have met Carl.
Carl is very handsome.
I spent the night
at their home in Nashville.
And Carl cooked us breakfast.
Very delicious breakfast - the first
time I had fried green tomatoes.
And I remember sitting
at the breakfast table
and I said, "Describe the first time
that you saw Dolly."
"Well," he said,
"I was driving my truck
"and I drove past a 7-Eleven...
"..and I saw her. She was drinking
an RC Cola." And he said, "And..."
And he was trying to articulate
with his hands
and his language what it was,
the...the thing.
And he got so worked-up that
he fell backwards in his chair.
He fell over backwards!
I know the nature of men.
SHE LAUGHS
I grew up in a family of brothers
and uncles and grandpas
and men that I love.
I've known more good men
than I've known bad.
Of course, I've known plenty,
and being a right pretty girl
in the early days, of course
I've had my hands full with men.
But I knew always
how to handle myself.
# I can see you're disappointed
# By the way you look at me
# And I'm sorry that I'm not
the woman
# You thought I'd be... #
Just Because I'm A Woman
is a very extraordinary song
for the late '60s.
# Don't feel sorry for yourself... #
What Dolly's saying is that women
should be treated equally
in all matters
and particularly when it comes
to the sexual double standard,
if it's OK for the men,
it's OK for the women.
And I think she's not
just talking to her husband
about their personal situation,
but she's talking to everyone.
And it sums up a larger idea
about women and equality.
# My mistakes,
they're no worse than yours
# Just because I'm a woman... #
I have done things in the past that
I thought at the time was a mistake.
I have changed my thinking
a lot about what I'm supposed to
feel guilty over and what I'm not.
I do the best I can.
# He'll just... #
# While he... #
Dolly writes
Just Because I'm A Woman
in the late '60s, at the height
of the sexual revolution.
Not surprisingly, in the 1970s,
people continually ask Dolly
if she supported
the Equal Rights Amendment.
She never gave a straight answer.
You said something quite astonishing
about women's liberation,
about burning your bra.
SHE GIGGLES
I said that
when women's liberation came out,
that I was the first person
to burn my bra
and it took the Fire Department
three days to put the fire out.
LAUGHTER
But that's only a silly joke.
# My mistakes are no worse
than yours
# Just because I'm a woman. #
Dolly won't do anything that
will render uncomfortable
the people who love her,
and it's a very broad swath
of people, I think.
Politically, very broad.
Socially, economically, very broad.
She is, first and foremost,
an entertainer.
She wants people to feel good.
So if she feels that identifying
as a feminist will make some of
those people who love her
uncomfortable,
she's not going to say that.
But her life is
the life of a feminist,
which means a woman who has fought
to realise herself,
to actualise her full self.
# Now, I know that I'm no angel
# If that's what you thought
you'd found
# I was just the victim of
# A man that let me down... #
She's mastered the design
of how to be a woman
and succeed in this business
without making a man feel bad.
In fact, without anybody
making anybody feel bad.
Dolly, I read once that
you didn't in fact consider
yourself as a sex symbol.
Were you lying to them?
I'll try very hard to not be
a sex symbol.
LAUGHTER
# No, my mistakes are
no worse than yours
# Just because I'm a woman. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you very much.
Now you look back at it,
and it was kind of one of
the first MeToo movement songs.
I don't like that word so much
any more, you hear so much of it.
But it is really about women taking
responsibility for themselves
and not wanting to be blamed
for everything that happens,
or to think that we don't have some
power and that we can't stand up
and speak out for ourselves.
PORTER WAGONER: Right now,
I want you to meet a little gal
that I know you're going to
really learn to love.
Direct from Nashville, Tennessee,
here's The Porter Wagoner Show,
starring Porter Wagoner,
Dolly Parton...
I had come to Nashville to be
my own artist, to have my own band,
and I'd had a couple of
Top Ten records when Porter saw me.
But his show was going to send me on
out there to be a big artist.
Porter had a lot of power
because of the television show
and because of Dolly
as she came on board.
There's no question Dolly Parton
and Porter Wagoner
had a great chemistry.
And you can take that anywhere
you want to go with it.
# I thought I had seen
pretty girls in my time
# That was before I met you
# I never saw one
that I wanted for mine
# That's was before I met you. #
Well, Dolly had such a unique voice,
her voice was much
in a higher register.
A brilliant songwriter.
That really sold me on Dolly too.
So we just kind of hit it off
from that moment on.
# But that was before I met you
# I wanted to ramble
and always be free... #
When you start out in the business,
you start out to try
to make it yourself.
And then you wind up working
with other people,
and if you're smart, like
for instance, when I worked with
The Porter Wagoner Show, a show that
I was with for many years,
you learn from the best -
all the people around you,
learn how they do things.
# I hollered, wake up, Jacob
stir up a light
# Did you ever see a man
and a polecat fight?
# Turn on the light and let me in
# Wake up, Jacob, let me in. #
I was so country that
I understood the country feel.
I think it's the instrumentation,
like, steel guitars and the fiddles
and the style of tunes.
Like, back in the old world, over
there when things would happen,
they would talk about the girl...
..you know, the boy that killed
his girlfriend,
drowned her in the river
cos she got pregnant,
or she wouldn't marry him,
or whatever,
and then they would take these
village to village,
you know, and tell the story.
Now then, it's time to
meet the pretty little gal,
and she's got a song that...
You haven't done
this before on the show...?
I don't believe I have.
And this is one of the prettiest
songs you've written,
and she's going to do it just
with her and her little guitar.
It's called The Bridge.
Miss Dolly Parton.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
# The bridge, so long
# The bridge, so wide
# Here is where it started
# On the bridge... #
The Bridge is a song that I wrote
when I was a teenager,
back home sitting on an old bridge
where I wrote songs a lot.
As a little child,
my mother used to sing
all those songs
that really told about tragedies.
The Bridge just seemed to be like
a perfect one to write about
a young girl that, you know,
was heartbroken and messed-up,
and of course, I related,
being a girl, cos I am a girl.
Have you noticed?
Back when I grew up,
we didn't have the movies.
We didn't even have television
for many years of my life.
So I used to write songs
so my family could enjoy
seeing these little stories.
So every song I write, I run home
and I'd sing 'em to the family,
you know, whatever I was doing,
so it was kind of entertainment.
It really is like a little movie
when I write songs.
In The Bridge, Dolly creates
a strong sense of drama
by giving us a story that focuses
just on one person's experience
and only through
that one person's eyes.
It's very visceral.
# Bridge, so wide
# The bridge... #
You can feel that kind of
rising tension through the music.
# Where once we stood together
# Tonight I stand alone... #
It's the melody, it's the rawness,
it's the, "Is she saying
what I think she's saying?"
SONG ENDS ABRUPTLY
The song ends with no harmonic
sense of closure,
the last chord doesn't finish
anything out.
It just ends abruptly.
I just thought, well,
I'll start it with that
and then I'll tell my story,
and then I'll end it the same way.
You don't hear the water splash,
but you know...you know she went.
That's pretty heavy-duty,
that this woman killed herself
and her unborn baby
by jumping off a bridge,
and that song itself in 1967,
from Dolly Parton,
was a very, very deep song to write.
DOLLY PARTON AND PORTER WAGONER:
# Today, tomorrow
# And forever
# That's how long our love will last
# I'll never stop loving you
# No, never. #
I am proud of everything
I did for Dolly.
I even kind of gave up
on my own career for a while
to devote all of my time
for her career.
So that, I think that shows
pretty much how much I loved Dolly
and cared for her career.
She was an asset to Porter's TV show
and his records,
up until the point that she was
getting offers from other producers
and other record companies
and stuff to do things,
and make movies and all that,
which Porter didn't have
anything to do with.
I think that they reached a point
where Dolly was getting
more fan mail than he was.
So I think she outgrew
her need for his coaching.
# I do everything for you
# You never help yourself
# And I think I'd die from shock
# If you raised a hand to help... #
He was the boss, but he didn't
have all the creativity,
but he had control.
Now then, it's time to meet
the pretty little gal...
..beautiful little lady...
..one of the prettiest, singinest
songwritingest little blondes
in country music coming up
right now.
# Your woman's gettin' tired
of being your ole handy man... #
Occasionally we would have
a run-in about something,
but I always won because I always
would, because I'm the boss.
I'm the one that signs the cheque.
# Your woman's gettin' tired
of being your ole handy man. #
Thank you, Dolly. Fine job.
That should tell them like
it is there, kiddo.
I started trying to move myself
away, started talking to him,
and he wasn't hearing of it.
So we fought a lot
because we were very similar,
we were very headstrong.
He knew what he wanted
and I knew what I wanted
and we were both going to get it.
Dolly, excuse me just a second.
We need to start just one more
and I will count it this time.
Three, four...
# Well, I remember
when I was just little
# Mama used to cook in
an old black kettle... #
She had came to the office
and sang me
a bunch of the songs
that she'd wrote,
and these songs like
Daddy's Working Boots,
Mama's Old Black Kettle.
Songs about back home.
And I said,
"Dolly, people don't care
"if your mama's got
a kettle or a skillet.
"Who the hell cares?" You know?
"You need something that people
will listen to and you need to write
"a song about the most identifiable
subject on Earth - love."
She said, "OK, smart aleck, I'll
just write you a song about love."
She came in two days later
and she said,
"I've got this song started."
And she sang me
what she had done over that time.
I said, "Now you're talking."
# If I
# Should stay
# I would only be in your way
# So I'll go
# But I know
# I'll think of you
each step of the way
# And I-I-I
# Will always love you
# Yes, I will always love you. #
I said, "Dolly, that song will make
you more money
"and more fame than all of
your other songs put together."
Although Porter says that Dolly
wrote I Will Always Love You
as a response to his telling her
she needed to write more love songs,
which, in fact, he did do, I think
Dolly's version of the events
are more likely to be true,
which is that she was trying to make
the break from Porter,
he wouldn't listen, and the only way
she could get through to him
was to write a song.
# Bittersweet
# Memories
# That's all I am taking
with me... #
I Will Always Love You
is that signature song that
when I was leaving The Porter
Wagoner Show trying to make sense of
what, you know, that I appreciate
you and I wish you well
and I thank you for loving me
and all of that, but I've got to go.
# But I, I-I
# Will always love you... #
I've never been the kind of writer
that's always looked for
a perfect song.
I write because I have to.
I write because I love to.
And because I want to.
There are certain songs, though,
that I do write,
I think, "Whoo, now that is good!"
SPEAKS IN RHYTHM TO SONG:
And I hope life.
Treats you kind.
I Will Always Love You
has the simple melody
and it's easy to sing.
It also fits
so many types of things.
Like, people tell me, "We played
this at the hospital when my daddy
"was dying, he loved this song."
"They played this at my graduation."
"When my son was going off
to college."
# But above all of this
# I wish you love... #
In fact, Elvis' manager wanted
to have the publishing on that song
and I wouldn't allow it cos
it was my most important copyright.
It broke my heart,
cos Elvis didn't get to sing it,
but I had to hold on to it.
Elvis loved the song.
In fact, Priscilla had told me that
when she and Elvis were leaving
the courthouse after they divorced,
he was singing it to her
walking out.
So she said he did love it.
That was one of the great
career decisions Dolly Parton
made in her life, cos Elvis
was Elvis, for God's sake,
and she said no,
and that demonstrated her astuteness
as a businesswoman.
That was a great chess move.
# And I, I-I
# Will always love you
# Will always
# Love you... #
I thought it was the most
unbelievable thing I'd ever heard.
I'd never even believed my little
song could be done like that.
People say, "Well, she claims
it's her record."
I said, "It is her record."
It's my song, but it's most
definitely her record.
It didn't sound like that
when I had it.
She made me rich.
# I will always
# L-o-o-ove
# You
# You know I'll always love you. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you. God bless!
BIRDSONG
My folks were just simple, poor
mountain people. We lived on a farm.
I'm from a family of 12 children.
And I think being
the fourth one down,
I didn't get paid
a lot of attention.
I was kind of the kid that needed
a lot of attention.
But I had an uncle
that played guitar really good
and he saw early on
how serious I was about my music.
So he used to take me around.
RADIO PRESENTER: Now, here's
our youngest singing sensation here,
little Dolly Parton.
Dolly.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
INDISTINCT RECORDING PLAYS
But it was only
when I got on stage the first time
and was singing in front of a crowd,
and I was just about 10 then,
and I sang my song
and they kept bringing me back,
wanting me to sing it, sing it,
sing it.
I remember looking up at
my uncle and said,
"I'm going to be a star, ain't I?"
That was the moment that
I realised that was
what I was going to
do for the rest of my life.
INDISTINCT RECORDING PLAYS
SONG ENDS
RADIO PRESENTER:
Little Dolly Parton!
Why does Dolly need that validation?
I think she, just growing up
in a huge family, I think
she wanted to stand out
and be somebody
and having to grow up poor, she just
wanted to be bigger-than-life Dolly.
Dolly told me once...
I had invited her
to our son's wedding,
and people wouldn't let her alone -
they wanted her autograph,
they were just...
I mean, "Take a picture with me."
And the whole night, she was one
after another after another.
And I finally kind of came round,
I said, "Dolly, that's not why
we invited you here.
"You know,
you don't have to do that."
She said, "Mac, you don't
know me better than that?
"All my life, all I've ever
wanted was to be a big star,
"and this is just part of the deal."
RECORDING: Hi, this is little
Dolly Parton and this is August 1st,
and we are in Bloomington, Illinois,
and this is our first show.
SHE GIGGLES
MUSIC: Joshua
by Dolly Parton
To me, stardom was more
than a place.
It was a feeling, it was a fantasy,
it was a world that lived
withinside of my own head
and inside of my own heart.
# Well, a good ways down
the railroad track
# There was
this little old rundown shack
# And in it lived a man
I'd never seen... #
Crossing over to pop
was an ultimate goal,
but it also was destiny,
it was bound to happen.
Dolly's one of those people
that breaks that line.
As hillbilly as she might sound,
people understand that she's bright
and she's beautiful inside and out,
and that just automatically
drips off of Dolly.
So she was destined to go
to the other side
and there was no way to stop that.
She was a rocket ship taking off
fully loaded.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you.
# Jolene, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene
# I'm begging of you
please don't take my man
# Jolene, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene
# Please don't take him
just because you can... #
Jolene was probably
Dolly's first crossover song
because it had what
we called a hook, you know, the...
HE IMITATES HOOK OF "JOLENE"
It's a gut-string guitar,
it's a classical guitar.
It's not a steel-string guitar.
That also adds to
the way you hear the guitar.
HE PLAYS HOOK TO "JOLENE"
That whole little guitar sound is as
clever as the little song itself,
and just singing over and over,
"Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene,"
it's like, how hard can that be?
Like, "I will always love you!"
It's not like I'm a genius
or nothing.
# You could have your choice of men
# But I could never love again
# He's the only one for me,
Jolene... #
There's a few things going on.
One, that riff instantly
is the hook.
Oh, but wait a minute,
there's a whole other hook.
Because right
when you hear that riff...
INTRO TO "JOLENE" PLAYS
..you go right into,
# Jolene, Jolene... #
It's like the way...the arrangement.
# Jolene, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene... #
And in that time, you're not used
to hearing the chorus
start off the song, and then is that
the verse, is there a pre-chorus?
I'm confused, what's going on here?
But it doesn't matter because
every single part is hooky.
# Jolene, Jolene... #
And then, forget about all of that -
put the story in there.
Jolene - just that name is amazing.
I wrote this song
about 20 years ago about this woman
down in Nashville
who worked at the bank.
She was trying to take care of my
husband while I was out on the road.
Well, that didn't go over too big
with me.
I fought that redheaded woman
like a wildcat.
She jerked my wig off
and almost beat me to death with it.
LAUGHTER
But I kept my husband.
I got that sucker home
and I beat the tar out of him.
We got a whole bunch of redheaded
women down here.
As a matter of fact,
Jolene looked a whole lot like you,
you redheaded hussy.
LAUGHTER
In Jolene, Dolly is singing
a song about a cheating man,
but she doesn't address
the man at all.
In fact, he seems not to be
relevant to the story.
She's really engaging
with this other woman.
# Your beauty is beyond compare
# With flaming locks of auburn hair
# With ivory skin
and eyes of emerald green... #
It may seem that she doesn't have
very much power in that dynamic,
but, in fact, she's the one
who speaks all the lines.
# And I cannot compete with you,
Jolene... #
Jolene, I can see Jolene walking
down the street,
I can see Dolly bristling.
Yeah, it's a real art
of storytelling,
how to say a lot and paint
the picture in a three-minute
or three-and-a-half-minute song.
# He talks about in his sleep and
there's nothing I can do to keep
# From crying
when he calls your name, Jolene
# Oh, and I can easily understand
# How you could easily take my man
# But you don't know
what he means to me, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene
# I'm begging of you,
please don't take my man. #
# Jolene, Jolene
# Jolene, Jolene... #
Jolene is a song that I think fits
a lot of people.
We all are insecure.
# Jolene, Jolene... #
There's always somebody that could
take that person from you
and you're vulnerable.
# Please don't take him
# Even though you can! #
It's just about
those little songs just stick
and they just came out,
and thank God they're still around.
Evening, madam. Your passport,
please. Thank you.
Miss Dolly Parton. That's right.
And what is the reason
for your visit?
I'm a performer. You're a performer?
I absolutely had a game plan.
I wanted to do everything that
a body could do as an entertainer.
I wanted to be worldwide.
I wanted to get in movies.
# She has so many faces
# She wears so many names... #
I thought, "Well, if I'm going to be
a star, why not be a big star?"
So my plan was to find management,
to get with a label that was
really going to really support me
as an individual star,
not just part of a group.
She came to me and basically
introduced herself to me
somewhere in the mid-'70s.
She just wanted to ask me
a few questions about my career,
and how I got started,
and this and that.
HE VOCALISES
It was at the time that
I had a television show,
and I said, "Here's my advice -
"talk to Sandy Gallin."
And she says, "Well, isn't he...?
He's your manager, right?"
And I said, "Yeah."
And she says, "Well, he just...
he's like a New York guy, and..."
And I said,
"Look, I'm from Lubbock, Texas.
"Look what he did for me."
APPLAUSE
"I'm signed to Columbia Records,
I've got my own television show.
"I mean, this is what he can do
for you."
# I am a seeker
# And you are a teacher
# You are a reacher,
so reach down... #
I knew relatively little
except that she was
a great-looking, blonde,
busty country artist
who I had booked on the Mac Davis
variety show in America.
And we had dinner,
she played me a new album
she had just finished recording.
I knew without a question
that I was in the presence
of somebody extremely unusual,
unbelievably interesting,
magnificently beautiful,
and I couldn't get out of my mind
that I thought,
"She is going to be a gigantic,
gigantic movie star...
"..television star, media star."
I just thought,
"OK, how do we expose
the whole world to this person?"
I thought having a pop hit record
would bring her to the attention
of millions of fans
that had not known her.
# Here you come again
# Just when I've begun
to get myself together
# You waltz right in the door
# Just like you've done before
# And wrap my heart
round your little finger... #
I don't ever want to get myself
pigeonholed,
where people think I cannot do
anything but one thing,
or that they put me in a place
where I'm not allowed to.
I won't allow that to happen either,
because I love being able to express
myself in any way I feel like.
# And here I go... #
Why would Dolly
sing somebody else's song?
Dolly is smart, and Dolly knows...
As a songwriter,
she knew a hit song
when she heard it.
# And shakin' me up
so that all I really know
# Is here you come again... #
She's known so well as a songwriter,
I'm sure that people gave her
credit for writing the song,
and probably still do to this day.
# And here I go
# Here you come again... #
I mean, you never know 100%,
but this sounded absolutely
on the nose like a hit song.
And she recorded it,
and it was a number one record.
# Here you come again. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you!
And she became that big star
almost overnight.
Carson Show, everybody wanted her.
And she was funny.
I believe it was Carson
that asked her
why she bought her family's little
cabin up in the Tennessee hills.
And she said,
"Well, every now and then,
"a girl just wants to go
pee off the porch."
And that's her.
Well, we've arrived.
Oh! Looks like a dormitory.
Well, it kind of does.
Actually, I have three closets
in this room, but this one
is the most special because this one
holds all of my stage clothes.
And all of these clothes
are hand washable,
I just put them in the sink in a
motel room, I just rinse them out,
they're wrinkle-free,
I don't have to iron them.
OK, now this is my couch.
Also, this is my bed.
Then up here in these cabinets
are my wigs.
So here's another Dolly,
and another one, and another one.
You don't have to look like this.
You're very beautiful, you don't
have to wear the blonde wigs,
you don't have to wear
the extreme clothes, right?
No, it's certainly a choice.
I don't like to be like
everybody else.
I've often made the statement that
I would never stoop so low
as to be fashionable,
that's the easiest thing
in the world to do.
So I just decided that I would
do something that would at least
get the attention.
Once they got past the shock of
the ridiculous way I looked and
all that, then they would see there
was parts of me to be appreciated.
Show business is a moneymaking joke,
and I've just always liked
telling jokes, you know.
But do you ever feel that YOU'RE a
joke, that people make fun of you?
Oh, I KNOW they make fun of me.
But actually, all these years,
people have thought the joke
was on me, but it's actually
been on the public.
I know exactly what I'm doing,
and I can change it at any time.
# A pair of false eyelashes
and a tube of cheap lipstick... #
She's an entity that exists, she has
kept it alive for how many decades?
So I think it's partly her now.
I mean, if it wasn't her before,
which I think it partly was,
I think it's certainly instilled
itself in her,
so much that she is who she is,
even though she isn't.
I was very unusual
at a very early age.
There was this woman
in our hometown,
and she was called the town tramp.
I don't know what you call
a loose woman,
the ones that throw it around a bit,
as they say.
That's all, boys.
MEN SIGH
And as a little child, I used to,
when we ever did get to go to town,
I would see this woman
walking up and down the street.
She had a short skirt,
she had beautiful skin,
and I remember saying,
"Oh, she's so pretty."
Mom would say,
"Oh, she's just trash."
And so I thought in my mind,
"That's what I want to be
when I grow up, trash."
I used to think that being
self-conscious was pejorative,
but Dolly is a good example of
someone who is
very conscious of self,
and has created a mythic,
iconic character that's partly...
Well, that I think that's
entirely real, but...
..enhanced.
How does Dolly
have such a small waist?
It just puzzles me.
I mean, her waist
is profoundly small.
All right, Barbie mode.
# I'm just a backwards Barbie,
too much make-up, too much hair... #
That's her brand.
That's her thing.
And she's never walked away from it
because I feel, if Dolly were
to look at Dolly, and Dolly, that
the Dolly that is the singer,
that everybody knows, Dolly owes,
you know, and gives credit
and respects and honours, so it's
like, "Well, I'm not going to
"get rid of you now,
you've done so well for me."
You know, "And you and I have
been a great team."
It's like, I almost think
there's two people there.
APPLAUSE
There's a lady over here
that looks sort of like I used to.
I guess it's a lady!
LAUGHTER
Uh-oh! It's a lady.
I would like to know
who you got to cut your hair.
Who I got to cut it?
Yes.
Well, I just bought it this length.
Oh, I see!
Well, hello out there, London!
Is everybody feeling good tonight?
I want to say a great big hello
to the most exciting
and beautiful city in the world,
and the sweetest people
I've ever known.
I know everybody must be ready for
me to start sooner or later, right?
So everybody clap your hands
along with me.
How about you folks?
Are we ready?
Then I guess I'm the only one
that's dragging my feet.
Playing with Dolly was just
such an intense musical experience.
We were all so much in love
with the songs and music that
you would almost forget her whole
larger-than-life persona.
She was really good at reading the
audience and knowing how to pace.
I'd like to have a bit from
all sorts of people,
but definitely something from Dolly,
which is the communication
with the audience,
the love for her audience,
and the love the audience has
for her, obviously.
But just to be really spirited and
dedicated, and just be who you are.
# You got me on fire. #
Whoo! Well, I knew you was going
to be fun to party with.
I know a fun crowd when I see one.
Thank you, you done good.
I've learned a lot
from a lot of people.
Just being a sponge.
Ain't it amazing what some people
will do for attention?
How to kind of pace yourself,
how to put your jokes in
with your dialogue, your timing,
your dynamics.
And this woman with the purple
and green hair went like this.
And I thought, "Well, I don't think
my fans back home,
"and I don't think my fans here
in London,
"would want that to happen to me."
So I went like that back.
Is that OK?
Dolly could do stand-up, I'm sure.
I don't take no punk off nobody.
I was the original punk rocker.
I don't care if I've heard the joke
20 times,
I will still laugh
because Dolly's delivering it.
By the time the show's over,
I'm just getting started,
and it takes me sometimes
three or four hours to come down
from just being overexcited.
And so sometimes, I write my best
songs after a performance,
because of the audience
and their reaction.
I suppose the last two years,
we've worked 200 days on the road,
which is a lot more
than we should work.
But I can write pretty good
on the road,
because when we travel from city to
city, there's not that much to do.
Hello?
Tell 'em I'm not here.
Tell 'em I'm not here!
She isn't here right now.
Dolly's writing all the time.
I'll call her on the phone,
and she'll say, "Hey, I'm writing."
So I just say, "All right,
I'll call you back."
You know what I mean? I don't
want to stifle her creativity.
I've seen her when someone
needs something written quickly,
Dolly will go to the bathroom,
get a Sharpie,
write it on a piece of toilet paper,
and write a song on there,
and come out, and it's ready.
She's that quick.
That creative.
And it's good!
I want to do a song for you now
that's kind of a special song to me.
A lot of folks that follow my career
know that I write a lot of
sad songs, and this one is
absolutely pitiful.
LAUGHTER
It's true.
It's a story about a little girl
and a puppy dog.
# Late one cold and stormy night,
I heard a dog a-barkin'
# Then I thought I heard
somebody at my door a-knockin'
# I wondered who would be
outside in such an awful storm
# Then I saw a little girl with
a puppy in her arms
# Before I could say a word,
she said, "My name is Sandy
# "And this here is my puppy dog,
and his name is little Andy"
# Standing in the bitter cold
in just a ragged dress
# Then I asked her to come in,
and this is what she said
# Ain't ya got no gingerbread?
# Ain't ya got no candy?
# Ain't ya got an extra bed
for me and little Andy? #
A sad song like Me and Little Andy
doesn't fit with the persona
of the Dolly that I know.
But that song in itself is like
a little three-minute short story.
# I wonder if
you'd let us stay with you... #
I don't ever remember
not doing that song in the show.
I think that was always
one that we did.
You know, part of that
make 'em laugh, make 'em cry,
scare the hell out of 'em,
and go home.
Dolly's feel for music is...
She's like a savant.
She has it all here in her head,
and she just kind of...
I say it, and it's kind of creepy,
she just kind of spits out songs.
She's so versatile, she can deliver
all these different styles.
She wanders into everybody's lane,
and somehow pulls it off.
# She was just a little girl,
not more than six or seven
# And that night as they slept,
the angels took them both to heaven
# God knew little Andy
would be lonesome with her gone
# Now Sandy and her puppy dog
won't ever be alone
# Ain't you got no gingerbread?
# Ain't you got no candy?
# Ain't you got an extra bed
for me and little Andy? #
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
I think Dolly likes to move on.
She only likes to
chew her tobacco once.
I just wanted to bring her
to the whole world,
and I thought
she was a natural actress.
She was a little apprehensive
about it.
I hadn't wanted to do any movies
until a right thing come along,
because I'm not an actress,
I've never taken an acting lesson
in my life.
I knew it'd have to be something
that was pretty much close to me,
to my personality.
But Jane Fonda came up with
this idea to do 9 To 5,
about women in the workplace.
Why Dolly Parton?
What gave you that idea?
She's not done a movie
in her life, huh?
No, no, but I've been a fan of her
music, and even more particularly,
of her as a songwriter.
It was "Pow!" It was a visceral
sense that Dolly Parton
had to be a secretary in 9 To 5.
I was driving home from having just
seen Lily Tomlin for the first time
in her one-woman show called
Appearing Nitely,
and I was totally smitten by Lily,
and I said to myself,
"I don't want to be in a movie,"
which I was producing,
"about secretaries unless
Lily Tomlin is in it, too."
Driving home, turn on the radio,
Two Doors Down is playing.
And I suddenly get an image of Dolly
Parton sitting at a typewriter.
And I thought,
"That would be something,
"to have Dolly Parton in her first
movie playing a secretary in a movie
"that, among many other things,
"is going to touch upon
sexual harassment.
"She's perfect."
And here's to the beginning.
When Jane came to me with it,
I said,
"Well, this is a good
opportunity, but I'll only do it
"if I can write the theme song."
So they said, "OK," I said, "OK."
I thought, "Well, I will do it,
because Jane Fonda is a huge star,"
and Lily Tomlin was, and I always
thought, "If it's a big hit,
"then I'll get the glory of it,
like them, with Lily and Jane,
"and if it's a flop,
I can blame it on them."
Well, welcome to the front lines.
9 To 5 was about working women
in the workforce,
and their relationships
to the boss,
and however the corporate culture
imposes itself on them.
Hi, Violet, how's everything going?
She plays an abundantly sexy
secretary to the boss, who is an
object of harassment on a daily
basis, and she's really a nice,
innocent southern girl who sings
a song and plays the guitar
and has a husband.
And she just is shocked and amazed
that the boss is hitting on her
all the time.
Mr Hart, I've told you before,
I'm a married woman.
And I'm a married man.
That's what makes it so perfect.
Oh, Mr Hart...
And of course,
all the other girls in the office,
they don't like her
because they think she's a floozy.
So you've been telling everybody
I'm sleeping with you, huh?
Well, that explains it, that's why
these people treat me like
some dime store floozy. No, no...
They think I'm screwing the boss.
That's not it at all...
And you just love it, don't you?
It gives you some sort of
cheap thrill,
like knocking over pencils...
Let's not get excited...
Get your scummy hands off of me.
Well, it was kind of modelled
on her personality.
Dolly grew up poor in the sense of
material advantages,
so she knows what it feels like to
be put upon, to be challenged,
and I'm sure she's been
sexually harassed in her life.
Look, I've got a gun out there
in my purse, and up to now,
I've been forgiving and forgetting
because of the way I was brought up,
but I'll tell you one thing.
If you ever say another word
about me or make another
indecent proposal, I'm going to get
that gun of mine,
and I'm going to change you from
a rooster to a hen with one shot.
It was fun, it was such a joy to
make, but I wasn't intimidated
by them, because I have
all these sisters, too,
I have all these sisters and aunts.
I love women,
I know the nature of women,
so it was just like
having two new girlfriends.
We just liked each other,
and we had an automatic camaraderie.
I think we each fancied
we were lighting up the room.
I used to say,
"Each one of us thought we were
the one in the middle."
Jane was so political, so active,
I was a lesbian,
and so Dolly naturally thought
she was in the middle.
You cannot finish a day with Dolly
without laughing so hard
that you have to cross your legs.
LAUGHTER
When we were starting 9 To 5,
we were trying to get really chummy,
and we went to the
Beverly Hills hotel,
and we had two or three
pyjama parties.
But Dolly, I don't remember Dolly
ever really confiding anything
to us. She just...
sets a boundary for herself.
I've never seen Dolly
without a wig.
To this day, I've never seen Dolly
without her hair.
You know, during the entire time
that I was with her,
when she came out of her bedroom,
she was done, it was all made,
you know...
I never saw her without her regalia.
She's an utter professional.
I was very impressed.
When I said I wanted to write the
theme song, I'd read the script,
but I wanted to get a feel for
what was going on on the set.
They just do a few lines a day
sometimes, and I'm just such an
antsy little person, I'm just like
a wiggle worm, I can't be still.
So here I am in my trailer,
waiting for lights to be set up,
and I thought,
"What am I going to do?
"I guess I'll write songs."
So I would just walk around on
the set, you know,
I wear acrylic nails...
NAILS CLACK RHYTHMICALLY
and I thought I would
play the nails,
and I'd come up with little things
and I would see on set, like...
# I tumble out of bed
and I stumble to the kitchen
# Pour myself a cup... #
And I thought, "Wow, that sounds
like a typewriter."
One memorable moment that Lily and I
talk about from time to time
was the morning that Dolly came
to work and motioned us over,
just outside the set, she said,
"I've just written the song."
And she used her long nails
as a washboard,
and she sang 9 To 5.
And Lily and I looked at each other,
and we had goose bumps.
Jane Fonda and I were just
flabbergasted.
We thought it was so great.
I said to Jane, "This will make the
movie a hit if nothing else."
# Tumble out of bed and
I stumble to the kitchen
# Pour myself a cup of ambition
# And yawnin', stretchin',
try to come to life
# Jump in the shower
and the blood starts pumpin'
# Out on the streets,
the traffic starts jumpin'
# And folks like me
on the job from 9 to 5... #
And we knew, this is not just
a movie song, this is an anthem.
# Workin' 9 to 5,
what a way to make a livin'
# Barely gettin' by,
it's all takin' and no givin'... #
Jane said, "Oh, we love it,
you've got to finish it,"
so I kind of spread it out on
purpose so it would be kind of like
one of our little fun things,
our little hobby.
"What did you write tonight?"
And I had 100 verses on that
I didn't use, just because
I was writing about everything,
even comedy, stuff I knew wasn't
going to be used,
just real things that happened.
When I had to narrow it down
to do it as a record, I brought
all the women on the show to come in
and sing background on it.
And I played nails.
And on the record,
it says nails by me.
# They let you dream
Just to watch 'em shatter
# You're just a step
on the boss man's ladder
# But you got dreams
he'll never take away... #
A song like 9 To 5,
everyone could relate to.
And from a woman's standpoint,
a lot of those lyrics are so...
Like, they're kind of hitting
on some hot buttons
that we're still talking
about today. Yeah.
# Barely gettin' by,
it's all takin' and no givin'... #
Any song that has the word livin'
in it, L-I-V-I-N with an apostrophe,
is a country song.
It's popular.
It's popular. So she made country
music, she gave it a wider audience,
you know, made it even more popular.
# You would think that I
would deserve a fair promotion... #
9 To 5 was very successful.
I think it was the second highest
grossing film of the year,
which was remarkable
for a woman-led film.
Being in 9 To 5
just showed Dolly's versatility.
She was a big musical star,
and now a movie audience
with a huge hit, as 9 To 5 was,
just makes her better.
A queen, an empress.
# Workin' 9 to 5. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you!
Dolly can do anything.
Dolly's crossed over into pop,
she became an actress when
she had no idea what it even meant,
learnt everybody's lines for
the entire movie 9 To 5, apparently.
I think Dolly is a chameleon.
She will always remain, you know,
the backbone will always be Dolly.
# Islands in the stream
# That is what we are
# No-one in between
# How can we be wrong?
# Sail away with me
# To another world
# And we rely on each other, a-ha
# From one lover to another,
a-ha... #
I have a lot of gay fans,
and a lot of gay friends.
I have a lot of drag queen fans,
too.
They don't come to see me be me,
they come to see me be them,
so I'm busy trying
to enjoy my own self
but trying to give them
what they need as well.
# Islands in the stream
# That is what we are
# No-one in between... #
It's like through her song,
she opens her arms wide,
and embraces such a broad swath of
people that don't always feel seen.
And it's why people love her.
And it's why, you know,
when we've been in public with her,
her fans will drive for hours
to be where she is.
I've been with a lot of
big movie stars.
I've never seen the devotion
that her fans have for her
in anyone else.
It's quite extraordinary.
# Two doors down
# They're laughin' and drinkin'
and havin' a party
# And two doors down
they're not aware that I'm around
# Here I am
No longer cryin' an' feelin' sorry
# We're havin' a party... #
# Hey, maybe I'll dye my hair
# Maybe I'll move somewhere... #
With all the glamour and
all the other businesses and
all the stuff I do, you'd be shocked
to know how little I still am.
How small, and how vulnerable,
and how country,
and how I'm still that little girl.
# Maybe I'll gain some weight
# Maybe I'll clear my junk
# Maybe I'll just get drunk
on apple wine... #
When we think about Dolly,
and I talk about the light
emanating from her and all of that,
there's got to be the other side.
The light doesn't happen
without the dark,
so that's got to be there somewhere.
How much of it she would like
to reveal
or needs to reveal, I don't know.
You can't live as much as I've lived
and be willing to give
and express yourself as much as I do
to the public.
You can't even give yourself away
that much without really
suffering a great deal of sorrow.
She's very vulnerable.
I think she's vulnerable
to the fame.
If I've seen anything
that wears her down, it's that,
it's the constant having
to be Dolly.
Around this time,
RCA dropped Dolly's contract,
and that was a real blow.
She had been with them for decades,
and yet she wasn't selling any more.
I guess the music business,
the public,
had become oversaturated
with Dolly Parton.
She was everywhere for a while.
You know, a lot of times when
you get burned out, you quit,
but I think in her case, she reset
and kind of got back to her roots.
# Little sparrow
# Little sparrow
# Precious, fragile
little thing... #
I still felt like I had as much
passion about it as I ever did.
And if I ever was any good,
that I was as good as I ever was,
so I thought, you know,
"I can't give up on this."
So we decided that we were going to
do some more traditional things,
and I was just going to kind of
manage myself.
I said, "I'm going to do my music
if I have to pay for it
"and sell it out of
the trunk of my car."
I was sitting with Dave Buckingham,
my friend and my producer,
he had produced several of my
records, and he said,
"I read a very interesting thing in
the magazine that they asked
"the fans who they would most like
to hear do a bluegrass album."
And they said me.
And I said, "Really?"
And he said, "Yeah, you were number
one on that whole chart,
"that you were the person
they'd like..."
I said, "Well, let's do one."
# Leaving you to never mend... #
I think when we first heard that she
was going to do a bluegrass record,
that made sense to me,
because this was that kind of music,
that's where she came from.
Bluegrass music is the cousin
of country music,
because they both started in the
same place with the people playing
on the back porches,
fiddles and banjos and guitars.
My first awareness of music
in general,
my people were very musical.
My mother's people, they all played
some sort of musical instrument.
And it was mostly old mountain
music, old world stories,
where people carried the messages
of the world in song.
All of that stuff that was
brought over by our ancestors
was embedded in my soul.
I call it my Smoky Mountain DNA,
that is why I think that
style of music is still my
favourite, and I think that
I do that better than any other
music that I do.
Bluegrass music is about moonshining
or being lonesome for home,
you know, missing mother, tragedies.
# Sittin' on the front porch
on a summer afternoon
# In a straight-backed chair on two
legs leaned against the wall... #
I would say Dolly has always been
a bluegrass musician.
# I watch the kids a-playin'
# With June bugs on a string
# And chase the glowin' fireflies
# When evening shadows fall
# In my Tennessee mountain home
# Life is as peaceful
as a baby's sigh... #
Tennessee Mountain Home is almost
the anthem of what I would say
bluegrass music is trying
to get out.
It's all about, "I want to go back
home," it's at a quick tempo.
The music chugs along with
these words floating over the top
of it that are, you know,
just tearing your heart out.
# And on a distant hilltop,
an eagle spreads its wings
# A songbird on a fence post
sings a melody... #
I kind of see Dolly Parton,
for as long as I can remember,
singing bluegrass music. That's why
it was seemingly effortless
for her to do a couple
of bluegrass records.
It's a hummingbird.
APPLAUSE
Thank you.
She just unplugged the bass.
I'm going to go over here,
and just got to sit at the piano.
I'm not going to play it,
I'm just going to sit at it.
As we were going to the studio
every day to cut this record,
she would show up early,
and she was cooking again.
She would cook, and bring all this
food to the studio,
so we didn't have to leave,
and we were totally happy,
a whole bunch of country people
in there, you know.
I think SHE was happy,
I think she was with her flock.
I thought, "Well, what am I going
to call my bluegrass album?"
And I wanted it to say bluegrass,
but I didn't want it to be hokey,
so I thought, The Grass Is Blue.
I'm going to call it
The Grass Is Blue.
And I thought,
"Well, what am I going to say
about The Grass Is Blue?
"We all know grass is green,"
but I thought,
"I'll have to write a sad song
about being blue."
So I was in my trailer, in my bus,
and I just started writing
this song, and all of a sudden,
I thought, "Well, if the grass
"is green, the grass is blue,
I will write the opposite.
"I will make everything in
the whole song an opposite."
# And the rivers flow backwards
and my tears are dry
# Swans hate the water,
and eagles can't fly. #
You know, I thought, "This is good,"
so I just kept on doing that.
And then I came up with real
singable bluegrass harmonies
in the choruses, in the rivers,
with the melody.
So by the time I got finished
with it, I called Steve Buckingham,
I said, "Look, you've got to come
over here,
"I think I've got our song.
I think I've got our song written."
And he loved it, and so...
It's one of my favourite songs
I've ever written.
The Grass Is Blue is a really
sophisticated song,
both musically and lyrically.
It's from the perspective
of someone who has just been
broken up with, and is devastated
and can't see a way forward.
And the only way that she can cope
is to pretend that the opposite
of everything is true.
Dolly weaves these together in
an amazing way to demonstrate
the effort that it takes to overcome
this kind of heartbreak.
The sentiment of The Grass Is Blue
is something is definitely wrong.
So when we would play it...
HE PLAYS MELANCHOLY RHYTHM
And minors are always
more mysterious.
HE PLAYS "THE GRASS IS BLUE" INTRO
# Rivers flow backwards... #
She started singing,
and all the cold chills would just
go up your back.
# Mountains are level... #
And it was just like, "Oh, man,
there's my whole life in one sound,
"in a person's voice."
# But I'm perfectly fine now,
and I don't miss you... #
What I've always said about Dolly's
voice is she uses her voice
as if it's an instrument.
So I'm trying to use my instrument
as if it's her voice.
# The rivers flow backwards
# And my tears are dry
# Swans hate the water
# And eagles can't fly
# Oh, but I'm all right now
# Now that I'm over you... #
At the end, I wanted to
keep building, because I wanted
those bluegrass harmonies
to just keep going.
You know, before it kind of resolved
into a sad little place
where the grass was still blue.
# I don't love you
# And the grass is blue. #
But I really think that was
very effective in the song,
and I thought that out carefully.
I've never gone where anybody
expected me to go,
and I do that often in my songs.
You might think you know me,
but I might surprise you.
APPLAUSE
I went to Europe with her in 2002,
touring the Bluegrass record
Halos & Horns, and it was
a very small affair.
I think she was riding in a camper,
the guys were riding in
a Ray Charles bus with seats,
and it was small venues
and very under-promoted.
And I don't think
she enjoyed that very much.
I think she was like, "Look,
I don't need to be doing this."
Dolly, this way, please.
After 1991 to about 2004,
I think she was more considered
a heritage artist.
But I thought, "Hey, this woman's
a superstar icon.
"We have to market this
differently."
She hadn't had a manager
for 17 years prior to me,
so she was very reluctant.
She was like, "Who is this young
punk trying to tell me what to do?"
You know, that doesn't go over well.
# Blue Smoke climbing up
the mountain
# Blue Smoke winding
round the bend... #
I knew she needed a guy like that,
that could take her on
and spar with her, and do the yin
and the yang that she likes.
Dolly was basically like,
"Hey, if you lose me millions
of dollars, you're fired.
"Are you sure you want
to take this risk?"
And I said, "Absolutely, I want
to take this risk.
"I believe in the research,
the planning and the strategy
"that I've done, and now I'm going
to execute and follow through."
# Blue Smoke climbing
up the mountain
# Blue Smoke winding round the bend
# Blue Smoke is the name
of the heartbreak train
# That I am ridin' in... #
We put tickets on sale
six months in advance.
We sold 14 arenas out
in 60 minutes.
I put another seven shows on sale
and we sold 21 shows out.
# Oh, clickety, clickety,
clickety clack
# Just stay on track
and never look back... #
She was massive.
I mean, the largest solo tour
that she had ever done
in the history of her career.
I think in recent years that
she's getting more credibility
from being a songwriter.
The songs that she does have
have been some of the biggest...
I Will Always Love You and Jolene
and 9 To 5,
they're just staples,
you know what I mean?
The audiences range from 3 years old
to 70 years old,
and I can tell you that when
those songs come on,
there's just nobody that doesn't
know it, on a global level.
Whoa-whoa, roll with me now.
CROWD CHANTS: Dolly! Dolly!
I grew up in the country, so this
mud ain't nothing new to me.
CHEERING
And it's nothing new to you either,
is it?
# Back through the years
I go wanderin' once again
# Back to the seasons of my youth
# And I recall a box of rags
that someone gave us
# And how my momma put the rags
to use
# There were rags of many colours
# Every piece was small
# And I didn't have a coat
# And it was way down
in the fall... #
Coat Of Many Colours
is my favourite song
because it really covers
a lot of ground.
First of all, it's about my mother,
who I loved dearly.
It's about confidence, it's about
bullying, it's about acceptance.
# So with patches on my britches,
holes in both my shoes
# In my coat of many colours
I hurried off to school
# Just to find the others laughing
and making fun of me
# In my coat of many colours
my momma made for me... #
I think about where I am now,
compared to where I've been,
where I came from, and how much
I have achieved,
and that is my philosophy,
that little song.
It's OK to be different, you know,
it's OK to not be like
everybody else.
In fact, it's not only OK, it's
wonderful that you are who you are.
DOLLY HUMS
This one...
Things are different
once you become a star.
But I wanted to be a star,
and I don't complain about that now,
because I appreciate the fact that
people know me and recognise me.
I wanted to be seen, I wanted to be
recognised,
I wanted to be appreciated
for what I do.
OK, I'm good to go.
But it's so different now,
the business,
than it was when I was a girl
here in Nashville.
I'm so happy that I was one of
those old-timers that really got to
grow with it and know what it was
really about to really
build a career, not necessarily
have someone else build one for you
and just hand it to you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
celebrating 50 years as a member
of the Grand Ole Opry,
please welcome Dolly Parton.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hey, hey!
How are you?
Whoo!
Hello, everybody.
And you, and you, and all of you.
Hey, up there!
Well, 50 years
at the Grand Ole Opry?
Well, this is really a special
night for me, and thank you for
standing up for me - or were you
just resting your butts?
That woman is not retiring.
There is no reason
for her to retire.
She is still writing songs,
she's got over 1,000 songs
people haven't heard.
She has Dollywood, you know,
she's making movies.
She's not going anywhere any time
soon, and when she decides that,
I bet we're never even
going to know.
It's like, I bet Dolly's
just going to disappear.
I've had a wonderful life,
I have so many people to thank,
but none more than you, my fans.
So this is a song I like
to end my show with,
and of course, it was written
for other reasons,
but it says the perfect thing
to you.
# Mm-mm, mm-mm
# If I
# Should stay
# I would only be in your way
# So I'll go
# But I know
# I'll think of you
each step of the way
# And I
# Will always
# Love you... #
I think there will always
be country music.
I do believe that people will
search out those songs,
like the Jolenes, hopefully,
or the I Will Always Love Yous,
or the Hank Williams songs,
and all those great songs,
because they are the stories
that people naturally live.
They are your true feelings,
it's about love and heartache
and family and poverty, so I think
that there will always be
that simplicity that people need,
because the world is so complicated.
I think that country music kind of
simplifies simplicity,
and we're going to always need that,
the crazier the whole world gets.
# But I
# Will always
# Love you... #
She can see into people.
She's deep.
We're all unique, but she's more
unique than anybody else.
# I hope life
# Treats you kind
# And I hope you have all
you ever dreamed of
# Oh, I do wish you joy
# And lots of happiness
# But above all this
# I wish you love
# And I
# Will always
# Love you
# I will always
# Love you
# I will always love
# You
# I will always love you. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you so, so much.