“Jolene”, Dolly Parton’s lament for broken hearts, in 1973, and The White Stripes, in 2000

2023-08-17 17:00:09
RCA VICTOR (SOURCE : DISCOGS.COM)

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With her exuberant stage outfits flirting with kitsch, the American singer Dolly Parton could reflect, seen from our Old Continent, the image of a superficial blonde like a Barbie doll. Do not be fooled by appearances and her meter 52, the country idol is recognized as a feminist icon, an ardent defender of the LGBTQ + community and a formidable businesswoman. The “Queen of the country” is also a philanthropist, who, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, helped fund research for a vaccine by donating $ 1 million to the pharmaceutical laboratory Moderna, then has refused the privilege of being injected with the first available dose, preferring jointly to wait his turn.

After so many praises, one would almost forget his music. The septuagenarian with colorful dresses, who combines the caps of author, composer and performer, can boast of a career spanning six decades, 100 million albums sold and more than 1,000 compositions recorded. Of which Jolene, released in October 1973 on the album of the same name, which would become his second country chart-topping single the following year. A soft and haunting melody with folk rock arrangements, a bit melancholic, whose lyrics challenge by their dramatic point of view: that of a desperate young woman whose companion is under the loving influence of another.

The interpreter addresses his rival, a fatal beauty with auburn hair: « Jolene, I’m begging of you please don’t take my man. He talks about you in his sleep and there’s nothing I can do to keep from crying when he calls your name » (“Jolene, please don’t take my man. He talks about you in his sleep. I can’t stop crying when he calls your name”). The text would be partly inspired by the personal experience of Parton, who suspected her husband, Carl Dean (also her manager), of being in love with a pretty bank employee.

angry guitar

Jolene has been the subject of countless covers, often anecdotal: let us quote the sanitized disco version of Olivia Newton-John, another, gothic and embarrassing, of the Sisters of Mercy, that, pop and agreed, of her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, or , more successful, the one sung in 2021 by rapper Lil Nas X.

And, here we come, the explosive re-reading of The White Stripes. Shortly before the international recognition achieved with their third album, White Blood Cells (2001), the garage rock duo from Detroit, led by singer-guitarist Jack White and drummer Meg White, revisit the country classic on the vinyl B-side of the single Hello Operatorreleased in 2000.

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