"Jolene" by Dolly Parton - Continued Exploration
One thing that I particularly like about country music is the fact that it always tells a story. Country music always paints a picture for the listener. Dolly Parton's "Jolene" is no different. "Jolene" was written by Dolly Parton in 1973. The piece was produced by Bob Ferguson. Dolly recorded the piece at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. "Jolene" reached the top spot of Billboard's Hot Country Songs after its release. It also released top ten hit song in the United Kingdom when it was released there. The song also received two Grammy award nominations for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Over thirty different artists have covered the song since its release. After Dolly's performance of the piece in 2014 at the Glastonbury Festival, "Jolene" made the charts again over forty years after its original release.
The Story Behind "Jolene"
Dolly revealed that the inspiration for the song, "Jolene," actually came from a real life event. In the late 60's, shortly after Dolly and her husband, Carl, married, a beautiful red-headed bank teller had a crush on her husband. In 2008, Dolly told NPR, "She got this terrible crush on my husband, and he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention." Dolly continued, "It was kind of 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 type of money.'"
The name of the piece came from a beautiful, young girl that Dolly met in the autograph line at one of her concerts. Dolly said that the girl, just like in the song, had "beautiful green eyes and skin." When the girl told Dolly her name, the country singer told her that she would write a song about her name. A promise she indeed kept.
Travis Picking Technique
"Jolene" uses the travis picking technique, which makes the guitar part of the song quite challenging. In the travis picking technique, your thumb keeps a steady beat with an alternating notes. The guitarist then uses their other fingers to play other notes at the same time. The thumb is generally playing bass notes, and the other finger are playing treble notes. The alterations between the treble and bass notes occur in a syncopated rhythm, which is when multiple rhythms are layered over one another.
Vocal Articulation
In the piece, "Jolene," Dolly makes use of bent notes as well as slides. With bent notes, the vocalist slides slightly up and down before transitioning to the next note. The note is varied in pitch. With slides, the singer will slide from a low note to a high note or vice versa. The singer will not sing the notes in between; rather, they hover over them on the way to the targeted note.
Uneasy Rhythm
In Dolly's song, "Jolene," there is an uneasy rhythm throughout the entire piece. The rhythm constantly switches back and forth between steadiness and instability. This is due to the syncopated rhythm. These overlapping rhythms are created between the drums and the guitar picking. The irregularity that we hear in the rhythm gives the feel of an unsteady relationship.
Key of C# Minor
Although the majority of famous country songs are played in major keys, there are still some famous country pieces in minor keys. "Jolene" is a good demonstration of this. The piece is played in the key of C# minor. The minor keys sets a sad overcast over the piece; it allows the listener to hear the heartache in Dolly's voice.
Steady Speed
"Jolene" is performed at around 112 beats per minute. This is allegro moderato, which is a moderately fast speed. This faster pace makes the travis picking technique more challenging for the guitarists. This tempo makes the listener feel the sense of urgency in the piece. The listener can sense that the situation needs to be resolved.
Form
In the piece, "Jolene," the form is chorus, the first verse, the second verse, the chorus again, the third, and then it ends with the chorus again. This is unique as generally we have a verse before the chorus. It also doesn't have a bridge which is quite common in country music. We also see two verses back to back which isn't common.
Dynamics
In "Jolene," the piece starts out at a medium volume. As the piece approaches the first verse, it increases in loudness slightly. As the piece approaches the chorus again, the sound increases in volume again. The song quiets slightly as the third verse begins. When the chorus is repeated for the final time, the piece grows louder once again. As the piece comes to an end, it gets quieter and quieter until the music fades away.
Lyrics
"Jolene" tells the story of a woman whose man is falling for a woman that she cannot compete with, "I'm begging of you please don't take my man. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Please don't take him just because you can." In the first verse, Dolly describes a beautiful woman, "flaming locks of auburn hair," "ivory skin," and "eyes of emerald green." She goes on in the second verse to describe how her man is falling for this woman, "He talks about you in his sleep." Throughout the piece, Dolly is begging this beautiful woman, Jolene, not to take him away from her. Dolly tries to reason with Jolene, "You could have your choice of men, but I could never love again." Most listeners appreciate the lyrics as they represent a situation nearly all of us can identify with - feeling threatened by another person we feel we can't compete with.
Literature Cited
Beviglia, J. 2020. Behind the Song: Dolly Parton, "Jolene." American Songwriter: The Craft of Music.
Conniff, T. 16 April 2015. Dolly Parton's 'Jolene:' Getting Inside a Great Song. Tony Conniff.
Vitale, T. 9 October 2008. Dolly Parton's 'Jolene" Still Haunts Singers. NPR Music.
Compere, J. 19 November 2019. Dolly Parton: The Little Engine that Could. Medium.
I agree that country music seems to always tell a story. I actually used to listen to 'Jolene' but never truly understoof what it meant till now. Artists that have a genuine story behind lyrics make their songs more authentic and also maybe feel relatable to the listener. An instable rhythm is very exciting due to the unpredictability of the chords and song.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelby!
ReplyDeleteGreat choice of "Jolene" for your continued exploration. I didn't listen to Dolly Parton a lot, but I did know of this song. I didn't realize what it was truly about and that it was based on a real event, so I appreciate your details on the lyrics. It's definitely deep, and I agree that it's something most can relate to.
I found this really good cover of the song on YouTube if you're interested:
https://youtu.be/BKWZJyo9AwM
Nice job on this blog post about the song Jolene! I really like how you say country music always "tells a story" and "paints a picture". I think songs that do this well always result in good music. I also like it when artists uses real events in their songs. It gives the music a much deeper meaning and it can evoke emotions in the listener.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think you included everything about this song, so there is not much to add/change. Although you did cover the backstory and history of this song, I think this YouTube video can help add more to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffo9b6HgaBw
Hi Shelby! You did a really great job on this blog post. I love this song. I had no idea that Dolly Parton did this song based off of true events though. Very interesting! I also never knew that there was such thing as the travis picking technique.
ReplyDeleteYou did an outstanding job covering all the areas of music in this song. Really great descriptions. I also found the video that Jared shared to be very informative. One thing that really stood out was that Dolly Parton is worth over half a billion dollars. WOW!
While not quite the same, I think the song by Reba McEntire and redone with Dolly Parton "Does he Love You?" has a similar story line.
https://youtu.be/GZIIEkhtEzk
ReplyDeleteShelby,
AWESOME song. Jolene is so good and is very Dolly. I fell down the DP rabbithole recently while researching Miley Cyrus for my “Role of the Performer” post. I agree with your analysis and excellent choice again. Here is her latest release if you haven’t heard it yet… pretty good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWWmCKrTu4
Hi Shelby! I love this song! I grew up listening to Jolene in my house with my mom. She loved it, and would play it all the time. I had never heard of the travis picking technique before so that was interesting to read about! I think it's very cool she chose to incorporate that technique in this song, I don't think the song would be the same without it. I read a lot of online articles done by Good HouseKeeping, and they wrote a really cool article going more in depth of this song! https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a29873267/dolly-parton-jolene-song-lyrics-meaning/
ReplyDeleteHello, Shelby
ReplyDeleteThis Dolly Parton song is definitely one of my favorites! I learned some interesting history of the song and I enjoyed your analysis of the music elements. The syncopated rhythm caught my ear as well as the urgency in the music! Thanks for sharing.
Hello Shelby,
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing Dolly Parton sing for the first time and being mesmerized by her vocal range and control. Jolene is definitely one of those songs that has resonated with an entire generation for all of the reasons you shared in your post. Another one of my favorites by her is "9 to 5". I will link it below.