Dolly Parton once shared a fun story about the inspiration behind her smash hit “Jolene.”
In a resurfaced video from her 2022 performance at ACL Live in Austin, Texas, Parton recalled confronting her late husband, Carl Dean, over a beautiful redhead at the bank.
“[Carl] kept going down to the bank,” Parton shared before performing on stage. “And I kept thinking, ‘Why is he spending so much time at the bank? I know we ain’t got that kind of money yet.'”
Parton then revealed that she pretended to go to the bank, where she saw her husband talking to a “beautiful red-headed long-legged girl.”
Dolly Parton Recalled a Story About ‘Jolene’
Parton, just like any skeptical wife, asked Dean, “Don’t you think you might have talked to some of those hairy-legged boys about a roller for your asphalt paving company?”
The “9 to 5” singer continued, “I said, ‘You better get to the house, or it is going to be your [expletive] and your fault.'”
Parton added that something good came out of it in the end. “So I wrote this song, ‘Jolene,’ you remember her?” the singer teased. “I did a lot of banking over her, though. She made me a lot of money.”
How ‘Jolene’ Became a Running Joke Between Dolly Parton & Carl Dean
The Dollywood FoundationThis wasn’t the first time Parton opened up about “Jolene.” In 2008, the country music icon got candid about the woman in the bank who “got a terrible crush” on her husband.
“[Dean] just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention,” Parton told NPR at the time. “It was kinda 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.'”
The legendary musician continued, “She had everything I didn’t, like legs — you know, she was about 6 feet tall. And had all that stuff that some little short, sawed-off honky like me don’t have. So no matter how beautiful a woman might be, you’re always threatened by certain … You’re always threatened by other women, period.”
Who Is the Real Jolene?
While “Jolene” has long been linked to the bank teller, Parton previously confirmed that the name actually belonged to a young fan.
“One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl — she was probably 8 years old at the time,” Parton told NPR. “And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph.”
Parton continued, “I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.'”
Parton and Dean were married for 58 years. Following her death, she was laid to rest beside her husband at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tennessee.
