In 2022, one of country music’s most iconic names told then-late-night talk show host Trevor Noah that she wanted superstar Beyoncé to cover her 1973 hit “Jolene” and make it a megahit like Whitney Houston did with “I Will Always Love You” in 1992.
Country singer Dolly Parton got her wish.
Some fans didn’t see the vision back then. But now, following the Houston native’s release of her rendition on the history-making country album Cowboy Carter in March, the world has gone wild over Beyoncé’s interpretation.
In fact, the modified cover has made an impressive debut at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the highest chart position for any version of “Jolene” in the 50 years after its original release, as reported by Forbes. It performed just as well as Parton believed it would.
Unlike Houston, Queen Bey changed the lyrics, securing a writer’s credit and shifting the tune’s narrative. No longer is a woman begging another not to “take her man,” but instead is warning her that if she tries she might get that Texas smoke.
In an interview with E! News, Parton said she loves the approach.
Dolly Parton gives her honest take on JOLENE and COWBOY CARTER pic.twitter.com/K8BOxxs9q5
— I Choose Violence (@ourhermitage) May 31, 2024
“Well, I think that was very bold of her, 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,” she said.
She added, “And as a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them.”
“She wasn’t gonna go beg some other woman like I did,” Parton continued. “‘Don’t steal my man.’ ‘S—t, get out here, b—ch. You ain’t stealin’ mine.’”
While Parton, who wrote the song that Rolling Stone says is one of the best songs ever written, was pleased with the cover, not everyone wanted to give the Destiny’s Child lead singer her flowers.
Far-right commentator Megyn Kelly took to Sky News with host Paul Murray to slam the singer’s rendition. She derided the wife of 16 years, accusing her of producing music to suit modern feminism.
“She [Beyoncé] turned Jolene into her version of a badass because that’s what modern-day feminism looks like,” Kelly scoffed.
“The true power move is to write a song about Jolene, not even worrying about this. Jolene has no worries because her man loves her and is committed to her and would never cheat on Jolene so the most beautiful woman in the world could come walking by she’s good,” she continues, seeming to not truly understand who Jolene is in either song.
“Queen Bey doesn’t understand that,” said Kelly. “She’s gotta pretend she’s tough, which only telegraphs to those of us who are paying attention that she isn’t. The whole thing is bass-ackwards and I object.”
Amidst the backlash from not only pundits, but many in the country music world, Parton spoke up and celebrated the version publicly. “Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it!”
Parton is waving her pompoms for the song all the way to the bank.
If one were to consider the success of Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You,” ( which became the top-selling single by a female artist in history) it is plain as day to see why.
In the early 1990s, Dolly Parton earned $10 million in royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of her song. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $20 million today. As the owner of the song’s writing and publishing rights, Parton continues to make about 8 cents every time her song is played on the radio and $2 for each album sold, according to Geeks for Geeks.
This is the average that she gets from any song (in low to regular rotation) in her catalog, which allows her to secure an estimated $6 million to $8 million per year from her total song royalties.
With Beyoncé at the helm of this rendition, she is sure to rake in a good royalty.
Fans even noted that even with Mrs. Carter rewriting parts of the song, Parton is still listed as the sole songwriter on the song.
“This interview confirms what I already knew – that Dolly didn’t write the line ‘I’m still a Creole banjee b—ch from Louisianne’ despite having full writing credits that is 100% a Beyoncé lyric lol,” one tweeted.
No one should be shocked. Elvis Presley never covered “I Will Always Love You” only because Parton refused to grant him and his manager Colonel Tom Parker their request of full, or at least 50 percent, of the publishing rights of the song to sing it. In 1974, Elvis was king and would have surely shot the track to the top of the charts. But the Tennessee blonde was always about her business and retaining those rights to her songs.
While retelling the story to Howard Stern, she said, “It was the night before, the afternoon before the session the next day, that Colonel Tom had called and said, ‘You know, we don’t record anything with Elvis unless we have the publishing, or at least half the publishing.’”
“And I said, ‘Well that’s not possible, because that is my most important copyright. I’ve got my own publishing company, and I can’t do that,’” she continued.
“He said ‘Well, at least you gotta give us half.’ And I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ And he said, ‘Well then we can’t record it,’” the singer revealed.
With Beyoncé, Parton says, aside from the cover, she is proud of the 42-year-old.
“[I’m] very proud of [Beyoncé’s] album. I thought she did a great job in country music, and I thought it was great,” the 12-time Grammy Award winner said. “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.”
She also said that if she were asked and was not busy, she would perform the song with Bey at the Grammys in 2025, creating an epic moment for not just country music but music in general.
