RIP Dolly Parton

RIP Dolly Parton (January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026)

Farewell sweet lady. Stayed true to herself till the very end.

From an interview with Barbara Walters in 1977 where Dolly Parton handled the condescending questions in her own classy way. I also love this line from here, “I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable”.

Barbara Walter: Dolly, where I come from, would I have called you a hillbilly?

Dolly Parton: If you had have, it would have been something very natural, but I would have probably kicked your shins or something,”

Barbara Walter: You don't have to look like this. You're very beautiful. You don't have to wear the blonde wigs. You don't have to wear the extreme clothes, right?

Dolly Parton: No, it's certainly a choice. I don't like to be like everybody else. I've often made this statement that I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable. That's the easiest thing in the world to do. So, I just decided that I would do something that would at least get the attention. Once they got past the shock of the ridiculous way I looked and all that, then they would see there was a parts of me to be appreciated. I'm very real where it counts and what's inside. As far as my outlook on life, and the way I care about people, and the way I care about myself, and the things that I care about.

But I do like how it ended:

Barbara Walter: Dolly, you've said of yourself that you live a lot in your own imagination. Sometimes you remind yourself of a fairy tale, so I want to try a fairy tale on you. Once upon a time, there was a little girl. Her name was Dolly Parton and…

Dolly Parton: She lived in a small town in the mountains, which she loved because it was a comfort because she knew there was love and security there in her family. But she was a child, very curious and she wanted all the things that she had always been impressed with. Like the fairy tales of the mother goose stories and the Cinderellas and the lost slipper. Well, I guess she kind of wanted to find the other slipper in sort of a way. So she worked hard and she dreamed a lot and one day it came true. She was a fairy princess and she lived happily ever after.

Watch the complete interview here:

Jolene (1973):

You could have your choice of men
But I could never love again
He's the only one for me, Jolene

I had to have this talk with you
My happiness depends on you
And whatever you decide to do, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him even though you can

Just When I Needed You Most (1996):

Now I love you more than I loved you before
And now where I'll find comfort, God knows
'Cause you left me just when I needed you most

A message from the family of Dolly Parton:

“Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones she finally deserves to be comfortable have some rest.” — Bryan Seaver, Dolly Parton’s nephew