An American original. This is my favorite Dolly Parton song. One small note: what she reveals in between the :49 second mark and 1:04 is why I love her so much. Watch how she playfully slaps her own cheek, showing her joy in what she is doing, where she is, and who she is with. She loves her band, she loves her backup singers, she loves the audience. This is a woman who couldn’t, literally couldn’t, be anything other than what she is. Free, open, herself, boobs and wigs and plastic surgery and all. She is always herself. And she’s got a helluva voice.
Happy birthday, Dolly.
I’m a “Coat of Many Colors” man, but this may convert me.
Saw her on Oprah years ago. O was ragging on her for being so tiny-waisted. Dolly gives her that lovely level glance and says “Things don’t grow in the shade, dear”.
I laughed like a loon. She rocks.
Several years ago after the Kennedy Center honors where Jessica Simpson left the stage after botching the lyrics to “9 to 5” (after the event was reported, that is, but before it was broadcast), we were sitting around work laughing about it. How did Parton respond, I asked. “Told Jessica she sang beautifully and not to worry about it,” my coworker said, “because Dolly Parton is perfect in every way.” Couldn’t agree more.
Color me a “Traveling Man” fan myself.
Bruce – I had not heard that story. I knew about Simpson bombing of course, but I had not heard about Dolly’s response. Good for her. That’s really touching. A human response, a kind one.
I also love her cover of “Both Sides Now”. She completely re-energized that song.
I’m also a “Coat of Many Colors” fan. Just thinking about the line “one is only poor only if they choose to be” makes me weep.
My favorite of her collaboration is “Trio,” which she did with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. “To Know Him is To Love Him” is . . . wow.
She’s such a brilliant songwriter, nuanced in ways that people maybe wouldn’t expect from looking at her. I love the little pause built into the chorus of “Here You Come Again”, that little resigned shrug, both jaunty and wistful. “Here you come again / Looking better than a body has a right too / And shakin’ me up so / That all I really know / Is here you come again (beat-beat) / And here I go!”.
“Baby I’m Burnin'” is probably my favourite Dolly song. Total earworm. I can’t help getting swept up in it every time I hear it, in its great glorious woosh. (The sound effect underscoring the line “This red hot emotion / Puts fireworks in motion / It looks like the fourth of July” is a treat too.)
Also, ever since a stupid pun of my dad’s, years ago, I automatically sing the words “Ireland’s industry” in place of “Islands in the Stream”…
Catherine – I love your whole comment, but I can’t stop laughing about “Ireland’s industry” – hahaha!!
It fits perfectly! Now I can’t listen to the song without those lyrics…
It’s not Christmas without A Hard Candy Christmas.
Dolly is divine.