Beyoncé surprised listeners with a reworking of Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene” for her latest album “Cowboy Carter,” and the cover impressed no one more than Dolly herself.
“Well, I think that was very bold of her,” Parton told E! News. “When they said she was gonna do ‘Jolene,’ I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn’t. But I love what she did to it. And as a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them.”
Dolly Parton gives her honest take on JOLENE and COWBOY CARTER pic.twitter/K8BOxxs9q5
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On Beyoncé‘s version of “Jolene,” the singer transforms the original version from a pleading anthem to a sinister warning shot at a woman coming for her man. “She wasn’t gonna go beg some other woman like I did,” said Parton. “‘Don’t steal my man.’ ‘Shit, get out here, bitch. You ain’t stealin’ mine.'”
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Parton says that she was in communication with Beyoncé around the release of “Cowboy Carter” in late March, and that they sent each other “flowers and little love notes and all that.”
As for “Cowboy Carter” as a whole, Parton exclaims that she’s “very proud of [Beyoncé’s] album. I thought she did a great job in country music, and I thought it was great. And I was just so happy she did ‘Jolene.’ I, of course, would have loved to have heard how she would have done it in its original way, but of course, you know, it’s Beyoncé. Yeah, her life is different than mine.”
So would she duet with Beyoncé on a cover of “Jolene,” perhaps at the Grammy Awards? “Why of course I would — if I’m available, if I’m not caught up in something I cannot get out of, yeah, that’d be wonderful. I mean, who wouldn’t wanna sing ‘Jolene’ with Beyoncé?”
“Cowboy Carter” arrived a few months back, featuring guest appearances from Willie Nelson, Shaboozey, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus and more. In addition to Beyoncé’s cover of “Jolene,” Parton makes several other cameos on the album, including the interlude “Dolly P” and a spoken word moment on “Tyrant.”
