![]() Each time the song reaches the beginning of the chorus pleading snaps and with an ominous, almost unnoticed push from the drums, the song shifts shape, grows monstrously. The song teeters between Jack’s crumbling falsetto and the chorus, which comes on thick with rage. Jack’s voice, the most intensely pleading falsetto, is held up by the instruments. The whole fits together, every piece in fact, rests, fragility on the others to support. Not just to this unnamed man-it is a love song to Jolene, Jolene, with her emerald eyes and auburn hair, Jolene who can have anyone she wants.Īt the beginning of the song Meg’s drumming on the verses is contained, modest, steady. What you realize when you hear the White Stripes’ version of “Jolene” is that it really is a love song. The bizarrely transformative quality that the best of the White Stripes’ covers can have was made most distinct for me when I first heard their version of Dolly Parton’s “ Jolene.” Perhaps it was because Parton’s song suffers from the problem of being over played in its original and over-covered (usually poorly), to the point where it can seem more or less innocuous. “Jolene” may be a popular heroine for cover artists, but no one has brought her to life quite like Dolly Parton, the songwriter who created her.The White Stripes, “Jolene,” from Under Blackpool Lights The way that Parton sings that title name in the refrain four times, each time more anguished and desperate than the last, truly packs an emotional wallop. Instead she imbues the narrator with touching vulnerability and genuine concern for what she could lose, which seems more honest considering the situation at hand. Parton easily could have attacked this song with false bravado and insulted or threatened the temptress. “But I could never love again.” “But you don’t know what he means to me, Jolene,” she pleads, hoping to demonstrate the level of her devotion, as opposed to Jolene’s view of him as a competitive challenge: “Please don’t take him just because you can.” “You could have your choice of men,” Parton sings. She points out to Jolene the differences between the two women in terms of their designs on this guy. The narrator goes on to show just how deeply her man is obsessed with Jolene, even to the point that he screams her name out in his sleep. Yet these qualities don’t engender admiration in the narrator, only fear, as evidenced by her capping line: “And I cannot compete with you, Jolene.” ![]() If you were to just read the first five lines of the opening verse, you would think this song was a love ode by an Elizabethan poet to some reticent beauty, as Parton speaks of “flaming locks of auburn hair,” “ivory skin,” and “eyes of emerald green,” not to mention a captivating smile and sirenlike voice. Instead of lamenting her sad fate or tearing into her wayward husband, the narrator goes directly to the source of her potential heartache and states her case to the other woman before the damage can be done. Yet this is a song that isn’t contained by genre boundaries, especially since the singer finds a way of tackling the familiar popular music topic of love triangles in a somewhat novel manner. ![]() “Jolene” served as the lead single and title track of a 1974 album by Parton and became her second single to reach #1 on the Billboard country charts. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.” It was kinda like a running joke between us - when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. “She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008. The story, on the other hand, was inspired by an innocent crush that developed between a bank teller and Dolly’s husband in the late 60’s. That unforgettably musical name “Jolene” was borrowed from a young fan Parton met signing autographs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |