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♪ Here I am ♪

Well, if I was trying
to describe myself,

someone that had never seen me before,

I would say, "Calm down.

Don't get scared. It's just me.

I know I look totally
bizarre and artificial,

but I'm totally real inside."

She says I am!

Dolly is somewhat
a cartoon character.

As superhuman as a human can be.

She's a great singer and entertainer.

She's a fierce businesswoman.

She has a playful side to her

that comes out when you least expect it.

She gives away very little.

She is who she is, even
though she isn't.

♪ Your smile is like a breath of spring ♪

♪ Your voice is soft like summer rain ♪

♪ And I cannot compete with you, Jolene ♪

Sort of like that.

I think there may be a secret Dolly.

She knew very early on in her career

that she was gonna have
to carve out boundaries.

The hot dogs are ready!

There's a private Dolly,

when she's away from the cameras

and the recording studios and everything.

♪ Little sparrow ♪

It's an extraordinary
tale from poverty to stardom.

I saw myself as special.

I wanted to be seen, I
wanted to be recognized,

I wanted to be appreciated for what I do.

She knew that she was a shooting star

and she had some things she
needed to get off her chest.

And so she crafted heartbreaking
and soul-stirring stories

about the lives of
people often overlooked.

She painted a picture with her words

and then colored in the lines
with that angelic voice.

Dolly Parton is one of the
most phenomenal songwriters,

breasts included.

♪ And I will always love you ♪

I actually take my
songwriting more serious

than anything else I do.

So I would say I am a songwriter first.

♪ And I will always love you ♪

It's my way of expressing
myself. It is my therapy.

You have to search for a long time,

'cause I've written a lot of songs,

but yes, there are
pieces of me, of course,

in everything I write.

Hey, hey, how's everybody? Hi there!

Hey.

We're back.

When I was young, we always used to listen

to the Grand Ole Opry
and everybody would say,

"That's where you gotta go
if you're a country star,

if you wanna try to make
it in the business."

So that was always just my aim.

It's sort of like how Broadway
people go to New York.

Well, Nashville was the Grand Ole Opry.

♪ Velvet cushion seats and soft armrests ♪

It is amazing to me,

thinking back on my life as a little girl,

when I wanted to be on
the Grand Ole Opry so bad.

Now, here I am 50 years later

and we're celebrating my
50th year on Grand Ole Opry.

♪ As the lights go out ♪

I'm so honored.

♪ Up on the silver screen, I picture me ♪

Hi everybody.

♪ Living out my passions,
hopes and fantasies ♪

Well, it's nearly showtime, whoo!

Yes.

And you thought it was
easy being in show business.

I got people all over me.

It's fun having us all
back together, ain't it?

I mean, we've all been at
this at least 50 years.

Some of you people are looking
really good for my age.

I'm older than America.

People just know that I'm gonna be there

and that I'm gonna have fun with it

and I'm gonna try to help them have fun.

♪ They let you dream just
to watch 'em shatter ♪

♪ You're just a step on
the boss-man's ladder ♪

♪ But you got dreams
he'll never take away ♪

I've done so many things.
I've been around a long time.

I guess it's just kind of,

I feel like a family
member to most people.

♪ And the tide's gonna turn ♪

♪ And it's all gonna roll your way ♪

I just know it.

♪ (whistling) Whoo ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Well, good morning, Captain ♪

I came here early on Saturday morning

with my little beat-up suitcase of songs

and my little old guitar
and ragged little clothes.

♪ Good morning to you, sir ♪

♪ Hey, hey, yeah ♪

I was hungry, cried myself
to sleep every night.

♪ Do you need another mule skinner ♪

But I did learn early on,

that you really had to
stand up for yourself,

especially being a girl
in business at that time

and a country girl that did
look like a dumb blonde.

♪ Yodel-a-ee-he-he ♪

When Dolly left home at the age of 18,

she was laughed at by her classmates.

She couldn't imagine why they laughed,

because she was convinced
that she would be a star.

If she had stayed back in the mountains,

she would have just
been living in poverty,

keeping house, raising kids,

all of those things she didn't want to do.

And so it was really gutsy
of her to just get up and go

with actually very little money,

a few sacks of dirty clothes.

Dolly, thanks for coming in.

Well, thank you for inviting me.

It's a pleasure to be with you.

Can we start by talking about
the biggest thing about you?

Well, now what would that be?

I think your determination.

Okay, (laughing) you scared
me for a minute, you know.

Well, what would we like to talk about?

I do definitely have a
lot of determination.

I just wanted to accomplish everything

that I possibly could in my life.

I figure that we all are here for a reason

and I aim to put everything
that I can into my life.

♪ He-he-he-he-he-He ♪

♪ Mule skinner blues ♪

My first meeting with Dolly Parton

was sometime in the middle of 1964.

A producer from upstairs at
Capitol Records brought her down

and he said, "I want you
to meet this girl singer."

He said, "She's got so much talent,

I can't get anyone interested in her."

Dolly was this beautiful
little 18-year-old girl

who seemed quite naive and uneducated.

Her language was kind of crude

and gutter language, you know, for guys,

and didn't seem to match her.

The first time I saw Dolly,

I thought, "This is a teenager."

She was very pleasant.

She was, you know,
seemed happy to meet us,

and then she started to
sing and it was, "Whoa!"

♪ You kindle the fire of love inside me ♪

And she wasn't a bit bashful either,

when it came to singing
and that, you know,

because that's a lot of
what this business takes.

You have to believe you
have something to offer,

and I think she believed it.

♪ You must know how I feel ♪

You've gotta be daring,

you've got to be able
to get outside yourself.

And I didn't care, I
wasn't afraid of anybody.

I mean, what was you gonna do to me?

You're gonna kill me?

And if you kill me, what
you gonna do, eat me?

You know, you're gonna
cook me and eat me? No.

I mean, it's like I'll either
succeed or I will fail.

♪ Don't try to cry ♪

♪ Your way out of this ♪

♪ And don't try to lie ♪

♪ Or I'll catch you in it ♪

You underestimate Dolly at your peril.

And "Dumb Blonde" is a perfect
way to launch a career.

She's so smart.

♪ Don't think I'm dumb ♪

♪ 'Cause this dumb blonde
ain't nobody's fool ♪

"Dumb Blonde" was my first chart record,

and Curly Putnam wrote the song,

he wrote it for me to record

and that was perfect for me,

because it does say

"Just because I'm blonde,
don't think I'm dumb

'cause this dumb blonde
ain't nobody's fool."

Everybody thinks I wrote that song

and I would've, I could've, I should've.

♪ Just because I'm blonde,
don't think I'm dumb ♪

♪ 'Cause this dumb blonde
ain't nobody's fool ♪

Thank you very much.

Dolly says she met her husband

the first day she was in Nashville.

She was at the Wishy-Washy laundromat.

She was walking up and down the street

looking over her new neighborhood

and this good-looking
young man came by in a car

and spoke to her.

I went to the laundromat.

First time I'd ever been in a laundromat,

took my little dirty clothes
I'd brought from home,

and it was called the
Wishy-Washy Washateria.

And so I met my husband that first day,

in which I've always joked about that,

that it's been wishy-washy ever since.

I've never seen Carl
Dean nor ever met him.

I know he exists, but I don't know anybody

that's ever seen Carl Dean.

He didn't go to any shows with her.

I never met the man, so I
don't know anything about him.

Carl Dean?

Yes, I know Carl. Who,
why do I know Carl Dean?

I have met Carl. Carl is very handsome.

I spent the night at
their home in Nashville

and Carl cooked us breakfast,
very delicious breakfast.

First time I had fried green tomatoes.

And I remember sitting
at the breakfast table

and I said, "Describe the
first time that you saw Dolly."

"Well," he said, "I was driving my truck

and I drove past a 7-Eleven

and I saw her, she was
drinking an RC Cola."

And he said, and...

And he was trying to
articulate with his hands

and his language what it was, the thing.

And he got so worked up that
he fell backwards in his chair,

he fell over backwards.

♪ How I love to run
barefoot through meadows ♪

Dolly was not looking for a husband

when she came to Nashville,
she was looking for a career.

Her producers also did not
want her to get married.

And she went ahead and did it anyway,

because when Dolly wants to do something,

I think she does it.

She kept the marriage a secret for a year.

But I think that was also very clever

because she demonstrated to her producers

that she could in fact have a marriage

and still be successful.

You know, people ask
me if I'm a feminist.

I love men, don't get me wrong,

I've always had one of my own, you know,

and I have, and I love men.

And I've known more good men
than I've known bad ones,

but I've known the bad ones too.

But I also am all about being a woman

and thinking that, you
know, we are who we are.

And when I started out,
it never crossed my mind

I couldn't do it 'cause I was a woman.

I was just going to do it.

One way that we see Dolly's feminism,

I think, is in her marriage

and the way that she arranged
that with her husband

so that it was understood

that she was not going to
stay home and cook and clean,

that she had a plan for a career.

And she made it very clear from the outset

that that was her plan.

♪ I can see you're disappointed ♪

♪ By the way you look at me ♪

♪ And I'm sorry that I'm not the woman ♪

♪ You thought I'd be ♪

♪ Yes, I've made my mistakes ♪

♪ But listen and understand ♪

♪ My mistakes are no worse than yours ♪

♪ Just because I'm a woman ♪

"Just Because I'm a Woman"
is a very extraordinary song

for the late sixties.

Dolly says that it came about

maybe six months after
she and Carl had married.

What Dolly's doing in
"Just Because I'm a Woman"

is really calling out the sexual
double standard of the time

and saying, "You've had
sex before we got married.

It's no different if I have sex

before we've gotten married."

And I think she's not just
talking to her husband

about their personal situation,

but she's talking to everyone,

and it sums up a larger
idea about women inequality.

♪ My mistakes, they're
no worse than yours ♪

♪ Just because I'm a woman ♪

I have done things in the past

that I thought at that
time, was a mistake.

I have changed my thinking a lot

about what I'm supposed
to feel guilty over

and what I'm not, I do the best I can.

♪ Now a man will take a good girl ♪

♪ And he'll ruin her reputation ♪

♪ But when he wants to marry ♪

♪ Well, that's a different situation ♪

♪ He'll just walk off and leave her ♪

♪ To do the best she can ♪

♪ While he looks for an angel ♪

♪ To wear his wedding band ♪

Dolly writes,
"Just Because I'm a Woman"

in the late sixties, at the
height of the sexual revolution.

Not surprisingly in the 1970s,

people continually asked Dolly

if she supported the
Equal Rights Amendment.

She never gave a straight answer.

You said
something quite astonishing

about women's liberation
and about burning your bra.

I said that when
women's liberation came out,

that I was the first person to burn my bra

and it took the fire department

three days to put the fire out.

But that's only a silly joke.

♪ My mistakes are no worse than yours ♪

♪ Just because I'm a woman ♪

Dolly won't do anything

that will render uncomfortable
the people who love her,

and it's a very broad
swath of people, I think,

politically, very broad,

socially, economically, very broad.

She is first and foremost an entertainer.

She wants people to feel good.

So if she feels that
identifying as a feminist

will make some of those people
who love her uncomfortable,

she's not gonna say that.

But her life is the life of a feminist,

which means a woman who has
fought to realize herself,

to actualize her full self.

♪ Now I know I'm no angel ♪

♪ If that's what you thought you'd found ♪

♪ I was just the victim of
a man that let me down ♪

She's mastered the design

of how to be a woman

and succeed in this business
without making a man feel bad.

In fact, without anybody
making anybody feel bad.

Dolly, I read once
that you didn't in fact,

consider yourself as a sex symbol.

Were you lying to them?

I'll try very hard
not to be a sex symbol.

♪ No, my mistakes are
no worse than yours ♪

♪ Just because I'm a woman ♪

Thank you very much.

Now, you look back at it

and it was kind of one of the
first Me Too movement songs.

I mean, I don't like that
word so much anymore,

you hear so much of it.

But it's really about women

taking responsibility for themselves

and not wanting to be blamed
for everything that happens,

or to think that we don't have some power

and that we can't stand up
and speak out for ourselves.

Right now, I want
you to meet the little gal

that I know you're going
to really learn to love.

Direct from
Nashville, Tennessee,

here's the "Porter Wagoner
Show," starring Porter Wagoner,

Dolly Parton.

I had come to
Nashville to be my own artist,

to have my own band,

and I'd had a couple of top
10 records when Porter saw me.

But his show was going
to send me on out there

to be a big artist.

Porter had a lot of power
because of the television show

and because of Dolly as she came on board.

There's no question Dolly
Parton and Porter Wagoner

had a great chemistry

and you can take that
anywhere you wanna go with it.

♪ I thought I had seen
pretty girls in my time ♪

♪ But that was before I met you ♪

♪ I never saw one that I wanted for mine ♪

♪ But that was before I met you ♪

Well, Dolly had such a unique voice.

Her voice was much in a higher register,

a brilliant songwriter, that
really sold me on Dolly too.

So we just kind of hit it
off from that moment on.

♪ But that was before I met you ♪

♪ I wanted to ramble and always be free ♪

When you start out in the business,

you start out to try to make it yourself

and then you wind up
working with other people.

And if you're smart, like for instance,

when I worked with "The
Porter Wagoner Show,"

a show that I was with for many years,

you learn from the best,
all the people around you,

you learn how they do things.

♪ I hollered wake up,
Jacob, stir up a light ♪

♪ Did you ever see a man
and a pole cat fight ♪

♪ Turn on the light and let me in ♪

♪ Wake up, Jacob, let me in ♪

There's a famous story

about one of my first sessions at RCA.

I was working with Porter Wagoner

and it was my big day to make,

I think I was doing my first album.

And so I had also got a car
that I wasn't used to driving,

wasn't that good with my driving.

And in my haste with my new car

and with the idea that I was
gonna be recording my album,

I was just all those nerves
and all that excitement.

So I pulled into the
parking lot up to the wall

and just kept going and I hit
the wall, this brick wall,

and it was a new building at that time.

And a lot of these bricks
just fell on top of my car.

I just got out, took the
keys, just left it there.

And then later, after the session,

everybody was out in this parking lot.

They'd go out to take a little break

to smoke or whatever, and somebody said,

"Hell, somebody's run
into the damn building."

I never said anything.

Anyway, they actually replaced
the bricks in that building.

And some say you can still see

the little difference in the color.

So yeah, I hit a brick wall,
but I kept going.

Now then, it's time to
meet the pretty little gal,

and she's got a song that,

you haven't done this before
on the show, have you?

I don't believe I have.

And this is one of the
prettiest songs you've written.

And she's going to do it

just with her and her little guitar.

It's called "The Bridge."
Miss Dolly Parton.

Thank you.

♪ The bridge, so long ♪

♪ The bridge, so wide ♪

♪ Here is where it started on the bridge ♪

"The Bridge" is a song that I wrote

when I was a teenager back home,

sitting on an old bridge
where I wrote songs a lot.

♪ From the bridge, I see reflections ♪

My own life was pretty ordinary.

My dad was pretty strict,
so we didn't stray,

I wasn't like a wild child
in any sense of the word.

I could be though in my songs

and I figured, "Well, if I did love a boy

and I did get pregnant,
how would I handle that?

My daddy'd kill me if I don't
kill myself."

♪ You kissed me for the first time here ♪

♪ And held me awfully tight ♪

♪ And the bridge became
our favorite place ♪

♪ We came here often in the night ♪

Back when I grew up, we
didn't have the movies,

we didn't even have television
for many years of my life.

So I used to write songs
so my family could enjoy

seeing these little stories.

So every song I'd write,

I'd run home and I'd
sing them to the family,

you know, whatever I was doing,

so it was kind of entertainment.

But it really is like a little
movie when I write songs.

♪ One night, whilst
standing on the bridge ♪

♪ Desire swept through us both ♪

♪ Passion took us by the hand ♪

♪ And showed us where to go ♪

♪ From the bridge, we saw a meadow ♪

♪ So we ran together there ♪

♪ Where we found love together ♪

♪ Our emotions filled the air ♪

In "The Bridge," Dolly
creates a strong sense of drama

by giving us a story

that focuses just on
one person's experience

and only through that one
person's eyes, it's very visceral.

♪ The bridge, so wide ♪

You can feel
that kind of rising tension

through the music.

♪ Where once we stood together ♪

♪ Tonight, I stand alone ♪

It's the melody, it's the rawness,

it's the, "Is she saying
what I think she's saying?"

♪ Tonight, whilst standing on the bridge ♪

♪ My heart is beating wild ♪

♪ To think that you could leave me here ♪

♪ With our unborn child ♪

♪ My feet are moving slowly ♪

♪ Closer to the edge ♪

♪ Here is where it started ♪

♪ And here is where I'll end it ♪

The song ends with no
harmonic sense of closure.

The last chord doesn't
finish anything out,

it just ends abruptly.

I just thought, "Well,
I start it with that

and then I'll tell my story

and then I'll end it the same way.

You don't hear the water splash,

but you know, you know she went.

That's pretty heavy duty
that this woman killed herself

and her unborn baby by
jumping off a bridge.

And that song itself

in 1967, from Dolly Parton

was a very, very deep song to write.

♪ Today, tomorrow, and forever ♪

♪ That's how long our love will last ♪

♪ I'll never stop loving you, no, never ♪

I'm proud of
everything I did for Dolly.

I even kind of gave up on
my own career for a while

to devote all of my time for her career.

So that I think that shows pretty much

how much I loved Dolly and
and cared for her career.

She was financed at
"The Porter's TV Show"

and his records up until the point

that she was getting
offers from other producers

and other record companies
and stuff to do things

and make movies and all that,

which Porter didn't have
anything to do with.

I think that
there reached a point

where Dolly was getting
more fan mail than he was.

So I think she outgrew
her need for his coaching.

♪ I do everything for you ♪

♪ You never help yourself ♪

♪ And I think I'd die from shock ♪

♪ If you raised a hand to help ♪

He was the boss, but he didn't
have all the creativity,

but he had control.

Now then, it's time to
meet the pretty little gal,

beautiful little lady.

One of the prettiest singing-est,

songwriting-est little
blondes in country music

coming up right now.

♪ Your woman's getting tired
of being your ole handy man ♪

Occasionally, we would have
a run-in about something,

but I always won because I always would,

because I'm the boss, I'm the
one that signs the checks.

♪ Your woman's getting tired
of being your ole handy man ♪

Thank you, Dolly.

Fine job. That should tell
him like it is there, kiddo.

I started trying to move myself away,

started talking to him and
he wasn't hearing of it.

So we fought a lot because
we were very similar,

we were very headstrong.

He knew what he wanted
and I knew what I wanted

and we were both gonna get it.

Dolly, excuse me just a second.

We need to start one more, and
Tom, I'll count it this time,

three, four.

♪ Well, I remember when
I was just little ♪

♪ Mama used to cook in
an old black kettle ♪

She came to the office

and sang me a bunch of
the songs that she'd wrote

and the songs like
"Daddy's Working Boots,"

"Mama's Old Black Kettle,"
songs about back home.

And I said, "Dolly, people don't care

if your mama's got a kettle or a skillet.

Who in the hell cares, you know?

You need something that
people will listen to

and you need to write a song

about the most identifiable
subject on earth, love."

She said, "Okay, smart aleck,

I'll just write you a song about love."

She came in two days later

and she said, "I've
got this song started."

And she sang me what she
had done of it at that time.

I said, "Now you're talking."

♪ If I should stay ♪

♪ I would only be in your way ♪

♪ So I'll go ♪

♪ But I know ♪

♪ I'll think of you each step of the way ♪

♪ And I will always love you ♪

♪ Yes, I will always love you ♪

I said, "Dolly,
that song will make you

more money and more fame

than all of your other
songs put together."

Although Porter says that Dolly wrote,

"I Will Always Love You" as a response

to his telling her she needed
to write more love songs,

which in fact he did do,

I think Dolly's version of the events

are more likely to be true,

which is that she was trying
to make the break from Porter.

He wouldn't listen

and the only way she
could get through to him

was to write a song.

♪ Bittersweet memories ♪

♪ That's all I am taking with me ♪

"I Will Always Love You"
is that signature song

that when I was leaving
"The Porter Wagoner Show,"

trying to make sense of what, you know,

"That I appreciate you and I wish you well

and I thank you for
loving me and all that,

but I've gotta go."

♪ But I will always love you ♪

I've never been the kind of writer

that's always looked for a perfect song.

I write because I have to,

I write because I love
to and because I want to.

There are certain songs
though that I do write,

I think, "Whoo, now that is good."

And I hope life

treats you kind.

"I Will Always Love You"
has the simple melody

and it's easy to sing.

It also fits so many types of things.

Like people tell me, "We
played this at the hospital

when my daddy was dying,
he loved the song."

"They played this at my graduation

when my son was going off to college."

♪ But above all of this, I wish you love ♪

In fact, Elvis' manager
wanted to have the publishing

on that song, and I wouldn't allow it,

'cause it was my most
important copywriter.

It broke my heart,

'cause Elvis didn't get to sing it,

but I had to hold onto it.

Elvis loved this song, in
fact, Priscilla had told me

that when she and Elvis
were leaving the courthouse

after they divorced, he was
singing that to her walking out.

So she said he did love it.

That was one of the
great career decisions

Dolly Parton made in her life,

'cause Elvis was Elvis, for God's sake.

And she said no,

and that demonstrated her
astuteness as a business woman.

That was a great chess move.

♪ And I will always love you ♪

♪ I will always love you ♪

I thought it was the
most unbelievable thing

I'd ever heard.

I'd never even believed my little song

could be done like that.

People say, "Well, she
claims it's her record."

I said, "It is her record.

It's my song, but it's
most definitely her record.

It didn't sound like that when
I had it." She made me rich.

♪ And I will always love you ♪

♪ You know I'll always love you ♪

Thank you very much.

My folks were just simple,
poor mountain people.

We lived on a farm.

I'm from a family of 12 children.

And I think being the fourth one down,

I didn't get paid a lot of attention.

I was the kind of kid that
needed a lot of attention.

But I had an uncle that
played guitar really good

and he saw early on, how
serious I was about my music.

So he used to take me around.

Right now, here's our youngest

singing sensation here,
Little Dolly Parton.

Dolly.

♪ Whoo ♪

♪ Well, (indistinct) ♪

But it was only when
I got on stage the first time

and sang in front of a crowd

and I was just about 10 then.

And I sang my song and
they kept bringing me back,

wanted me to sing it, sing it, sing it.

I remember looking up at my uncle, I said,

"I'm gonna be a star, ain't it?"

♪ Well, I have too ♪

That was the moment that I realized

that that was what I was gonna
do for the rest of my life.

♪ I got myself and I have you ♪

"I Cried Again,"
Little Dolly Parton.

I'll never forget when I
went on the tour with her

through Appalachia and the Ozarks,

and I realized the extent
to which Dolly's growing up

in a hollow in a shack,

stimulated these talents in her.

We would go way back in
the most remote hollows

and find these little tar paper shacks.

I'd go to places where entire trees

would have blue milk of magnesia bottles

hanging over them, off the branches.

I'd walk into living rooms that were,

there was nothing but shelves

where salt and pepper
shakers were collected,

or everything was covered with tinfoil.

She took me to church, I
was there on Easter Sunday

and she took me to church,
a little one-room church

with a little wood-burning stove

and the preacher with his
overalls and dirty fingernails

and, you know, no electricity, no radio,

no nothing in these places.

That's Dolly's world.

Why does Dolly need that validation?

I think she just, growing
up in a huge family,

I think she wanted to
stand out and be somebody

and having to grow up poor,

and she just wanted to be
bigger than life Dolly.

Dolly told me once, I had
invited her to our son's wedding,

and people wouldn't let her alone.

They wanted her autograph,
they were just, I mean,

"Take a picture with
me," and the whole night,

she was one after another after another.

And I finally kind of came around, I said,

"Dolly, that's not why
we invited you here,

you know, you don't have to do that."

She said, "Mac, y'all
know me better than that.

All my life, all I've ever
wanted was to be a big star.

And this is just part of the deal."

Hi, this is Little Dolly Parton,

and this is August the 1st,

and we're in Bloomington, Illinois,

and this is our first show.

♪ Hm hm hm ♪

To me, stardom was more than a place,

it was a feeling, it was a fantasy.

It was a world that lived
with inside of my own head

and inside of my own heart.

♪ Well, a good ways down
the railroad track ♪

♪ There was this little
old rundown shack ♪

♪ And in it lived a man I'd never seen ♪

Crossing over to
pop was an ultimate goal,

but it also was a destiny,
it was bound to happen.

♪ Nobody could be that mean ♪

Dolly's one of those
people that breaks that line,

as hillbilly as she might sound,

people understand that she's bright

and she's beautiful inside and out,

and that just automatically
drips off of Dolly.

So she was destined to
go to the other side,

and there was no way to stop that.

She was a rocket ship
taking off, fully loaded.

Thank you.

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

♪ I'm begging of you
please don't take my man ♪

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

♪ Please don't take him
just because you can ♪

Jolene was probably
Dolly's first crossover song,

because it had what we
called a hook, you know,

♪ Ba da da da, ba da da da ♪

It's a gut string guitar,
it's a classical guitar,

it's not a steel string guitar,

that also adds to the
way you hear the guitar.

That whole little guitar sound

is as clever as the little song itself.

And just singing over and over,

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

It's like, "How hard can it be?" Like,

♪ I will always love you ♪

And not like
I'm a genius or nothing.

♪ You could have your choice of men ♪

♪ But I could never love again ♪

♪ He's the only one for me, Jolene ♪

There's a few things going on.

One, that riff instantly is the hook.

Oh, but wait a minute,
there's a whole other hook,

because right when you hear that riff,

you go right into,

♪ Jolene, Jolene ♪

It's like the way, the arrangement.

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

And in that time,
you're not used to hearing

the chorus start off the song.

"And then is that the verse
is, is there a pre-chorus?

Well, I'm confused, what's going on here?"

But it doesn't matter because
every single part is hooky.

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

And then forget about all
that, put the story in there.

Jolene, just that name is amazing.

I wrote this song about 20 years ago

about this woman down in
Nashville that worked at the bank.

She was trying to take care of my husband

while I was out on the road.

Well, that didn't go over too big with me.

I fought that redheaded
woman like a wildcat.

She jerked my wig off and
almost beat me to death with it.

But I kept my husband,
I got that sucker home

and I beat the tar outta him.

We got a whole bunch of
redheaded women down here.

As a matter of fact, Jolene
looked a whole lot like you,

you redheaded hussy.

In "Jolene," Dolly is singing
a song about a cheating man,

but she doesn't address the man at all.

In fact, he seems not to
be relevant to the story.

She's really engaging
with this other woman.

♪ Your beauty is beyond compare ♪

♪ With flaming locks of auburn hair ♪

♪ With ivory skin and
eyes of emerald green ♪

It may seem that she
doesn't have very much power

in that dynamic, but
in fact, she's the one

who speaks all the lines.

♪ And I cannot compete with you, Jolene ♪

"Jolene," I can see Jolene
walking down the street.

I can see Dolly bristling.

Yeah, it's a real art of storytelling,

how to say a lot and paint the picture

in a three-minute or
three-and-a-half-minute song.

♪ Well, he talks about you in his sleep ♪

♪ And there's nothing I can do to keep ♪

♪ From crying when he
calls your name, Jolene ♪

♪ Oh and I can easily understand ♪

♪ How you could easily take my man ♪

♪ But you don't know what
he means to me, Jolene ♪

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

♪ I'm begging of you
please don't take my man ♪

♪ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene ♪

"Jolene" is a song that,

I think, fits a lot of people.

We all are insecure.

♪ Jolene, Jolene ♪

There's always somebody

that could take that person
from you and you're vulnerable.

♪ Please don't take him ♪

♪ Even though you can ♪

It's just that those
little songs just stick

and they just came out and
thank God they're still around.

Good evening, madam.

- Hi.
- Your passport, please.

- Yes, thank you.
- Thank you.

Miss Dolly Parton.

That's right.

And what is the reason for your visit?

I'm a performer.

You're a performer?

I absolutely had a game plan.

I wanted to do everything

that a body could do as an entertainer.

I wanted to be worldwide. I
wanted to get in the movies.

♪ She has so many faces,
she wears so many names ♪

I thought, "Well, if I'm gonna be a star,

why not be a big star?

So my plan was to find
management, to get with a label

that was really going to really support me

as an individual star,
not just part of a group.

She came to me and basically
introduced herself to me

somewhere in the mid seventies.

She just wanted to ask me a
few questions about my career

and how I got started and this and that.

♪ Ba da da, la la la, la la la la la la ♪

It was at the time that
I had a television show

and I said, "Here's my
advice, talk to Sandy Gallin."

And she says, "Well, isn't
he, he's your manager, right?"

And I said, "Yeah."

And she says, "Well, isn't he just,

I mean, he's like a New York guy?"

And I said, "Look, I'm
from Lubbock, Texas.

Look what he did for me."

Thank you.

"I'm signed to Columbia Records.

I've got my own television show.

I mean, this is what he can do for you."

♪ I am a seeker and you are a teacher ♪

♪ You are a reacher, so reach down ♪

I knew relatively little except

that she was a great-looking blonde,

busty country artist

who I had booked

on the Mac Davis variety show in America

and we had dinner.

She played me a new album she
had just finished recording.

I knew without a question

that I was in the presence of
somebody extremely unusual,

unbelievably interesting,
magnificently beautiful

and I couldn't get out of
my mind that I thought,

"She is going to be a
gigantic, gigantic movie star,

television star, media star."

I just thought, okay,

how do we expose the whole
world to this person?

I thought having a pop hit record

would bring her to the attention

of millions of fans
that had not known her.

♪ Here you come again ♪

♪ Just when I've begun
to get myself together ♪

♪ You waltz right in the door
just like you've done before ♪

♪ And wrap my heart round
your little finger ♪

I don't ever wanna
get myself pigeonholed

where people think I cannot
do anything but one thing

or that they put me in a place
to where I'm not allowed to.

I won't allow that to happen
either 'cause I love being able

to express myself in
any way I feel like it.

♪ And here I go ♪

Why would Dolly sing
somebody else's song?

Dolly is smart and Dolly
knows as a songwriter,

she knew a hit song when she heard it,

♪ And shaking me up so,
that all I really know ♪

♪ Is here you come again ♪

She's known so well as a songwriter,

I'm sure that people gave her
credit for writing this song

and probably still do to this day.

♪ Here I go ♪

♪ Here you come again ♪

I mean, you never know 100%,

but this sounded absolutely
on the nose like a hit song.

♪ Here you come again ♪

And she recorded it and
it was a number one record.

♪ Here you come again ♪

Thank you!

And she became that big
star almost overnight.

"The Carson Show," everybody
wanted her and she was funny.

I believe it was Carson that
asked her why she bought

her family's little cabin
up in the Tennessee Hills,

and she said, "Well, every now and then,

a girl just wants to
go pee off the porch."

And that's her.

Well, we've arrived.

Ah, looks like a dormitory.

Well, it kind of does.

Actually, I have three
closets in this room,

but this one is the most special

because this holds all of my stage clothes

and all of these clothes
are are hand washable.

I just put them in the
sink in a motel room.

I just rinse them out,
they're wrinkle free,

I don't have to iron them.

Okay, now this is my couch,
also, this is my bed.

And then up here in these
cabinets are my wigs.

So here's another Dolly and
another one and another one.

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?

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
parts of me to be appreciated.

Show business is a money-making joke

and I just always like
telling jokes, you know.

But do you ever feel that you're a joke,

that people make fun of you?

Oh, I know they make fun of me.

But actually all these years,

the people, you know, has
thought the joke was on me,

but it's actually been on the public.

I know exactly what I'm doing

and I can change it at any time.

♪ A pair of false eyelashes ♪

♪ And a tube of cheap lipstick ♪

She's an entity that exists

and she's kept it alive
for how many decades?

So I think it's partly her now.

I mean, if it wasn't her before,

which I think it partly was,

I think it's certainly
instilled itself in her so much

that she is who she is,
even though she isn't.

♪ Is my only claim to fame ♪

I was very
unusual at a very early age.

There was this woman in our hometown

and she was called the town tramp.

I don't know what you'd
call a loose woman.

The ones that throw it
around a bit, as they say.

That's all, boys.

And as a little child,

when we ever did get to go to town,

I would see this woman walking
up and down the streets.

She had a short skirt,
she had beautiful skin

and I remember saying,
"Oh, she's so pretty.

She's so pretty."

Mom would say, "Oh, she's just trash."

And so I thought in my mind,

"That's what I wanna be
when I grow up, trash."

I used to think that being
self-conscious was pejorative.

But Dolly is a good example of someone

who is very conscious of self

and has created a mythic iconic character

that's partly, well, I think
that's entirely real, but...

Enhanced.

How does Dolly have such a small waist?

It just puzzles me.

I mean, her waist is profoundly small.

All right, Barbie mode!

♪ I'm just a backwoods Barbie ♪

♪ Too much makeup, too much hair ♪

That's her brand, that's her thing,

and she's never walked away from it

because I feel if Dolly
were to look at Dolly

and Dolly,

that the Dolly that is the
singer that everybody knows,

Dolly owes, you know,

and gives credit and respects and honors.

So it's like, "Well, I'm not
gonna get rid of you now.

You've done so well for me.

You know, and you and I
have been a great team."

It's like, I almost think
there's two people there.

♪ Just a backwoods Barbie ♪

Well, hello out there, London!

Is everybody feeling good tonight?

I wanna say a great big hello

to the most exciting and
beautiful city in the world,

and the sweetest people I've ever known.

I know everybody must be ready

for me to start sooner or later, right?

Well, everybody clap
your hands along with me.

How about you folks, are we ready?

Then I guess I'm the only
one that's dragging my feet.

The concert we did in London,

we were there for a
week to make this show.

We got to play for all these great people.

That was the time in London when,

over here, we called people
like, we called them punks,

the way they wore the
mohawks and everything.

And of course, that was great for Dolly

because her look is unique as well.

So there was just like kind
of a connection between her

and that part of the audience.

♪ You got me ♪

♪ You got me on fire ♪

It was just a wonderful
time, wonderful experience.

Well, I knew you was
gonna be fun to party with.

I know a fun crowd when I see one.

Well, lordy, lordy!

I've learned a lot from a lot
of people just being a sponge.

Ain't it amazing what some
people will do for attention?

How to kind of pace yourself,

how to put your jokes
in with your dialogue

and your timing, your dynamics.

And this one with the purple
and green and blue hair

went like this.

And I thought, "Well, I
don't think my fans back home

and I don't think my fans here in London

would want that to happen to me."

So I went like that back. Is that okay?

I think a lot of comedians
would be jealous of her timing

and natural comedic ability,
she just definitely had that.

By the time the show's
over, I'm just getting started

and it takes me sometimes three
or four hours to come down

from just being overexcited.

And so sometimes, I write my
best songs after a performance

because of the audience
and their reaction.

I suppose the last two years,

we've worked about 200 days on the road,

which is a lot more than we should work.

But I can write pretty good on the road

because when we travel from city to city,

there's not that much to do.

Hello?

Tell him I'm not
here, tell him I'm not here.

She isn't here right now.

Dolly's writing all the time.

I'll call her on the phone

and she'll say, "Hey, I'm writing."

So I just say, "All right,
I'll call you back."

You know what I mean?

I don't want to, you know,
stifle her creativity.

She writes almost every day.

She writes a song a day, maybe more.

Just like "I Will Always
Love You" and "Jolene"

were written on the same evening.

I want to do a song for you now

that's kind of a special
little song to me.

A lot of folks that follow my career

know that I write a lot of sad songs

and this one is absolutely pitiful.

It's true.

It's a story about a little
girl and a puppy dog.

♪ Late one cold and stormy
night I heard a dog a-barking ♪

♪ Then I thought I heard
somebody at my door a-knocking ♪

♪ I wondered who would be
outside in such an awful storm ♪

♪ Then I saw a little girl
with a puppy in her arms ♪

♪ Before I could say a word,
she said, my name is Sandy ♪

♪ And this here is my puppy dog
and his name is Little Andy ♪

I write a lot of simple songs

because I'm limited, to a degree,

as far as, you know, melodies
and see, I don't know music.

I totally write by heart and
I play my instruments by ear.

I'm just a natural musician and
a natural singer-songwriter.

I don't know how to sing, never
tried to learn how to sing,

I just sing.

♪ Giddy up, trotty horse,
going to the mill ♪

♪ Can we stay the night ♪

♪ If you don't love us, no one will ♪

♪ I promise we won't cry ♪

I don't think people always understand

that she's a really good guitar player.

She really can play really well

and she doesn't play all
that much on her shows,

but she's fully capable of walking out

and doing it completely
by herself, if she had to.

♪ She was just a little girl,
not more than six or seven ♪

♪ But that night, as they slept ♪

♪ The angels took them both to heaven ♪

♪ God knew little Andy would
be lonesome with her gone ♪

♪ Now Sandy and her puppy
dog won't ever be alone ♪

♪ Ain't ya got no gingerbread ♪

♪ Ain't ya got no candy ♪

♪ Ain't ya got an extra bed
for me and little Andy ♪

Thank you.

I think Dolly likes to move on.

She only likes to chew her tobacco once.

I thought she was a natural actress

and I just wanted to bring
her to the whole world.

I hadn't wanted to do any movies

until a right thing come along,
'cause I'm not an actress,

I've never taken an
acting lesson in my life

and you'd have to be something

that was pretty much close
to me, to my personality.

But Jane Fonda came up with
this idea to do "9 to 5"

about women in the workplace.

Why Dolly
Parton, what gave you that idea?

She's not done a movie in her life, huh?

No, no, but she's, I've
been a fan of her music

and even more particularly,
of her as a songwriter.

It was pow!

It was a visceral sense

that Dolly Parton had to
be a secretary in "9 to 5."

I was driving home from
having just seen Lily Tomlin

for the first time in her one-woman show

called "Appearing Nightly."

And I was totally smitten by Lily

and I said to myself, "I
don't wanna be in a movie

which I was producing about secretaries

unless Lily Tomlin is in it too."

Driving home, turn on the radio,

"Two Doors Down" is playing

and I suddenly get an
image of Dolly Parton

sitting at a typewriter,

and I thought that would be something

to have Dolly Parton in her first movie,

playing a secretary in a movie
that among many other things

is gonna touch upon sexual harassment.

She's perfect.

And here's to the beginning!

When Jane came to me with it,

I said, "Well, this is a good opportunity,

but I'll only do it if I
can write the theme song."

So they said, "Okay." I said, "Okay."

I thought, "Well, I will do it

because Jane Fonda is a huge
star and Lily Tomlin was.

And I always thought,
"Well, if it's a big hit,

then I'll get, you know, the glory of it

like them with Lily and Jane,

and if it's a flop, I
can blame it on them."

Well, welcome
to the front lines.

"9 to 5" is about working
women in the workforce

and their relationship to the boss

and however the corporate
culture imposes itself on them.

Hi Violet, how's everything going?

She plays a abundantly
sexy secretary to the boss

who is an object of
harassment on a daily basis.

And she's really a nice,
innocent, southern girl

who sings a song and plays
a guitar and has a husband.

And she just is shocked and amazed

that the boss is hitting
on her all the time.

Mr. Hart, I've told you
before, I'm a married woman.

And I'm a married man, that's
what makes it so perfect.

Oh, Mr. Hart.

And of course, all the
other girls in the office,

they don't like her 'cause
they think she's a floozy.

So you've been telling everybody

I'm sleeping with you, huh?

- No.
- Well, that explains it.

That's why these people treat me

like some dime store floozy.

No, it's not.

They think I'm screwing the boss.

That's not it at all.

Oh, and you just love it, don't you?

It gives you some sort of cheap thrill,

like knocking over pencils
and picking up papers.

Doralee, now let's don't get excited.

Get your scummy hands off of me.

Well, it was kind of
modeled on her personality.

Dolly grew up poor

in the sense of material advantages.

So she knows what it feels like

to be put upon, to be challenged,

and I'm sure she's been
sexually harassed in her life.

Look, I got a gun out there in my purse

and up to now, I've been
forgiving and forgetting

because of the way I was brought up,

but I'll tell you one thing.

If you ever say another word about me

or make another indecent proposal,

I'm gonna get that gun of
mine and I'm gonna change you

from a rooster to a hen with one shot.

It was fun, and
it was such a joy to make,

but I wasn't intimidated
by them 'cause like I say,

I have all these sisters too.

I have all these sisters
and aunts, I love women,

you know, it's like I
know the nature of women.

So it was just like having
two new girlfriends.

We just liked each other

and we had an automatic camaraderie.

I think we each fancied we
were lighting up the room.

I used to say, "We, each one of us,

thought we were the one in the middle."

Jane was so political, so
active. I was a lesbian.

And so Dolly naturally
thought she was in the middle.

You cannot finish a day with Dolly

without laughing so hard that
you have to cross your legs.

When we were starting "9 to 5,"

we were trying to get really chummy

and we went to the Beverly Hills Hotel

and we had two or three
pajama parties.

But Dolly, I don't remember Dolly

ever really confiding anything to us.

She just sets a boundary for herself.

I've never seen Dolly without a wig,

to this day, I've never
seen Dolly without her hair.

You know, during the entire
time that I was with her,

when she came out of her
bedroom, she was done,

it was all, you know, I never
saw her without her regalia.

She's an utter professional.
I was very impressed.

When I said, "I wanna
write the theme song,"

I'd read the script, but
I wanted to get a feel

for what was going on on the set.

They just do a few lines a day sometimes,

and I'm just such an antsy little person.

I'm just like a wiggle
worm, I can't be still.

So here I am in my trailer
waiting for lights to be set up

and I thought, "What am I gonna do?"

I thought, "Well, I
guess I'll write songs."

So I would just walk around on the set,

you know, I wear acrylic nails

and I thought, "Well,
I'm gonna, you know,"

I would play the nails

and I'd come up with little, little things

that I would see on the set, like,

♪ I tumble outta bed and
stumble to the kitchen ♪

♪ Pour myself a cup ♪

And I thought, "Wow, that
sounds like a typewriter."

One memorable moment that Lily and I

talk about from time
to time was the morning

that Dolly came to work
and motioned us over

and just outside the set, she said,

"I've just written the song."

And she used her long nails as a washboard

and she sang "9 to 5."

And Lily and I looked at each
other and we had goosebumps.

Jane Fonda and I were
just flabbergasted,

we thought it was so great.

I said to Jane, "This
will make the movie a hit,

if nothing else."

♪ Tumble outta bed and I
stumble to the kitchen ♪

♪ Pour myself a cup of ambition ♪

♪ And yawn and stretch
and try to come to life ♪

♪ Jump in the shower and
the blood starts pumping ♪

♪ Out on the street, the
traffic starts jumping ♪

♪ The folks like me on
the job from 9 to 5 ♪

And we knew this is
not just a movie song,

this is an anthem.

♪ Working 9 to 5, what
a way to make a living ♪

♪ Barely getting by, it's
all taking and no giving ♪

Jane said, "Oh, we love it, we love it.

You gotta finish it, you gotta finish it."

So I kind of spread it out on purpose,

so it'd be kinda like one
of our little fun things,

our little hobby of "What
did you write tonight?

What did you write?"

And I had 100 verses on that I didn't use

just 'cause I was writing
about everything, even comedy,

even stuff that I knew
wasn't gonna be used,

just real things that happened.

When I had to narrow it
down to do it as a record,

I brought all the women on the show

to come in and sing background
on it, and I played nails.

And on the record, it says,
"Nails by me."

♪ Mmm ♪

♪ But they let you dream
just to watch 'em shatter ♪

♪ You're just a step on
the boss-man's ladder ♪

♪ But you got dreams
he'll never take away ♪

A song like "9 to 5,"
everyone could relate to.

And from a woman's standpoint,

like a lot of those lyrics are so like,

they're kind of hitting
on some hot buttons

that we're still talking about today.

♪ Barely getting by, it's
all taking and no giving ♪

Any song that has the word living in it,

L-I-V-I-N apostrophe is a country song,

You know, pop, it's
popular, it's popular.

So she made country music,
she gave it a wider audience,

you know, made it even more popular.

♪ You would think that I would
deserve a fair promotion ♪

"9 to 5" was very successful.

I think it was the second highest
grossing film of the year,

which was remarkable for a woman-led film.

♪ 9 to 5, yeah, they got
you where they want you ♪

Being in "9 to 5" just
showed Dolly's versatility.

She was a big musical star

and now a movie audience with
a huge hit, as "9 to 5" was

just makes her better.

A queen, an empress.

♪ Working 9 to 5, yeah ♪

Thank you!

There might have been
a little bit of backlash

when she went to Hollywood
and kind of wandered off

and Dolly's gone pop and all
those cliches that you heard.

But Dolly has that ability again

to get away with murder with music

and with her fan base, because they know,

they know that she's got magic
in her pocket as a musician.

♪ Islands in the stream ♪

♪ That is what we were ♪

Those who have tickets for Dolly Parton,

please line up at the back!

- Her voice.
- Her voice.

Is a real good voice.

Yeah, she's beautiful.

I really like her a lot.

You better believe it.

♪ And we rely on each other, ah-ah ♪

It's like through her
song, she opens her arms wide

and embraces such a broad swath of people

that don't always feel seen.

And it's why people love her

and it's why, you know, when
we've been in public with her,

her fans will drive for
hours to be where she is.

I've been with a lot of big movie stars.

I've never seen the devotion
that her fans have for her

and anyone else.

It's, it's quite extraordinary.

♪ Two doors down ♪

♪ They're laughing and
drinking and having a party ♪

♪ Two doors down, they're
not aware that I'm around ♪

♪ 'Cause here I am, no longer
crying and feeling sorry ♪

Yeah, Dolly always says that the irony

of the Imagination Libraries,

is that when she grew up,
she had no books in her home,

and the only book that they really had

in their home was the Bible.

Dolly's father farmed,

she always says he's the
smartest man she has ever known.

But she also was mindful
that his inability

to read and write limited
his opportunities.

And what she's told me is,
"I want to do whatever I can

to make sure all other
children, smart children

would never have that kind
of ceiling imposed on them,

they can always transcend it."

♪ Hey, maybe I'll dye my hair ♪

♪ Maybe I'll move somewhere ♪

With all the glamour
and all the other businesses

and all the stuff I do,
you'd be shocked to know

how little I still am,

how small and how
vulnerable and how country

and how I'm still so that little girl.

♪ Maybe I'll gain some weight ♪

♪ Maybe I'll clear my junk ♪

♪ Maybe I'll just get
drunk on apple wine ♪

By the 1990s, it was pretty hard

to categorize Dolly Parton.

Was she a country singer?
Was she a movie star?

Was she a philanthropist?

Was she a businesswoman?

She was definitely an icon,

but her pop career was relatively short

and in some ways, she aged out of it.

By the end of the eighties
and into the nineties,

she's in her mid forties,

and she's not going to
get a lot of radio play

either in pop or country, for that matter.

I mean, we think about Dolly
and I talk about the light

emanating from her and all of that.

There's got to be the other side.

The light doesn't happen without the dark,

so that's got to be there somewhere.

How much of it she would like to reveal,

or needs to reveal, I don't know.

Around this time,
RCA dropped Dolly's contract

and that was a real blow.

She had been with them for decades

and yet, she wasn't selling anymore.

I guess the music business,

the public had become
oversaturated with Dolly Parton.

She was everywhere for a while.

You know, a lot of times
when you get burned out,

you quit, but I think
in her case, she reset

and kind of got back to her roots.

♪ Little sparrow ♪

♪ Little sparrow ♪

♪ Precious fragile little thing ♪

I still felt like I had as much passion

about it as I ever did

and if I ever was any good that
I was as good as I ever was.

So I thought, "You know,
I can't give up on this."

We decided that we were gonna do

some more traditional things

and I was just gonna
kind of manage myself.

I said, "I'm gonna do my music
if I have to just pay for it

and sell it outta the trunk of my car."

♪ And feels no pain ♪

I was sitting with Steve
Buckingham, my friend

and my producer, he'd produced
several of my records,

and he said, "I read a
very interesting thing

in the magazine that they asked the fans

who they would most like to
hear do a bluegrass album."

And they said me and I said, "Really?"

And he said, "Yeah, you
were like number one

on that whole chart, that you
were the person they'd like."

I said, "Well, let's just do one."

♪ Leaving you to never mend ♪

I think when we first heard

that she was gonna do a bluegrass record,

it made sense to me because
this is that kind of music

because that's where she came from.

The people playing on the back porches,

fiddles, and banjos and guitars.

♪ Yeah, so pretty one ♪

My first awareness of music in general,

my people were very, very
musical, my mother's people,

they all played some sort
of musical instrument,

and it was mostly old mountain music,

the old world stories where people carried

the messages of the world in song.

♪ Where I go for my time ♪

All of that stuff that were
brought over by our ancestors

was just embedded in my soul,

I call it my Smoky Mountain DNA.

That's why I think that style
of music is still my favorite

and I think that I do that

better than any other music that I do.

I thought, "Well, what am I
gonna call my bluegrass album?"

I thought, "The grass is blue.

I'm gonna call it 'The Grass is Blue.'"

And I thought, "Well,

what am I gonna say
about the grass is blue?

We all know grass is green."

And I just started writing this song

and all of a sudden, I thought,

"Well, if the grass is
green, the grass is blue,

I will write opposite, you know,

I'll make everything in the
whole song an opposite."

♪ And the rivers flow backwards
and my tears are dry ♪

♪ Swans hate the water
and eagles can't fly ♪

You know, I thought, "Oh, this is good."

So I just kept on doing that.

It's one of my favorite
songs that I've ever written.

♪ Now I've had to think up ♪

♪ Some way to survive ♪

♪ Since you said it's over ♪

♪ And told me goodbye ♪

"The Grass is Blue" is a
really sophisticated song

both musically and lyrically.

It's from the perspective of someone

who has just been broken
up with and is devastated

and can't see a way forward.

And the only way that she
can cope is to pretend

that the opposite of everything is true.

♪ The opposite's true ♪

She weaves these
together in an amazing way

to demonstrate the effort that it takes

to overcome this kind of heartbreak.

♪ Valleys are high ♪

♪ Mountains are level ♪

♪ And truth is alive ♪

She started singing
and all the cold chills

would just go up your back just like,

"Oh man, there's my whole life, you know,

in one sound, in a person's voice."

♪ But I'm perfectly fine now ♪

♪ And I don't miss you ♪

What I've always said
about Dolly's voice

is that she uses her voice
as if it's an instrument,

so I'm trying to use my
instrument as if it's her voice.

♪ But the rivers flow backwards ♪

♪ And my tears are dry ♪

♪ Swans hate the water ♪

♪ And eagles can't fly ♪

♪ Oh, but I'm all right now ♪

♪ Now that I'm over you ♪

At the end, I wanted to keep building

'cause I wanted those bluegrass harmonies

to just keep going, you know,

before it kind of resolved
into like its sad little place

where the grass was still blue.

♪ I don't love you ♪

♪ And the grass is blue ♪

But I really think that was
very effective in the song

and I thought that out carefully.

Thank you.

I've never gone where
anybody expected me to go,

and I do that often in
my songs.

You might think you know me,
but I might surprise you.

These are albums that they've
gotten great critical acclaim,

but you know, they don't sell a lot.

You don't make much money in
this acoustic bluegrass music

for as a rule.

I went to Europe with her in 2002,

touring the bluegrass
record, "Halos and Horns,"

and it was a very small affair.

I think she was riding in a camper

and the guys were riding in
a Ray Charles bus with seats

and it was small venues
and very underpromoted,

and I don't think she
enjoyed that very much.

I think she's kinda like, "Look, you know,

I don't need to be doing this."

Dolly, this way please!

After 1991 to about 2004, I
think she was more considered

kind of like a heritage artist,

but I thought, "Hey, this
woman's a superstar icon.

We have to market this differently."

She hadn't had a manager
for 17 years prior to me,

so she was very reluctant.

She's like, "Who's this young punk

trying to tell me what to do?"

You know, that doesn't
go over well.

♪ Blue smoke climbing up the mountain ♪

♪ Blue smoke winding round the bend ♪

I knew she needed a guy
like that that could come on

and take her on and spar with her

and do the yin and the
yang that she likes.

He's so good.

I think his Valium's kicked in.

Dolly was basically like,

"Hey, if you lose me millions
of dollars, you're fired.

Are you sure you wanna take this risk?"

And I said, "Absolutely,
I wanna take this risk."

You know, I believe in
the research, the planning

and the strategy that I've done,

and now I'm gonna execute
and follow through.

♪ Blue smoke climbing up the mountain ♪

♪ Blue smoke winding round the bend ♪

♪ Blue smoke is the name
of the heartbreak train ♪

♪ That I am riding in ♪

We put tickets on
sale six months in advance.

We sold 14 arenas out in 60 minutes.

I put another seven shows on
sale and we sold 21 shows out.

♪ Oh, click-ad-ee, click-ad-ee,
click-ad-ee clack ♪

♪ Just stay on track and never look back ♪

It was massive, I mean,
the largest solo tour

that she had ever done in
the history of her career.

I think in recent years

that she's getting more credibility
from being a songwriter.

The songs that she does have
have been some of the biggest,

I mean, "I Will Always Love
You" and "Jolene" and "9 to 5,"

I mean, they're just staples,
you know what I mean?

The audiences range from three
years old to 70 years old.

And I can tell you that
when those songs come on,

there's just nobody that doesn't
know it on a global level.

♪ Woo-oo woo-oo, roll with me now ♪

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly!

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly!

I grew up in the country,

so this mud ain't nothing new to me.

And it's nothing
new to you either, is it?

♪ Back through the years ♪

♪ I go wondering once again ♪

♪ Back to the seasons of my youth ♪

♪ And I recall a box of
rags that someone gave us ♪

♪ And how my mama put the rags to use ♪

♪ There were rags of many colors ♪

♪ But every piece was small ♪

♪ And I didn't have a coat ♪

♪ And it was way down in the fall ♪

"Coat of Many Colors" is my favorite song

because it really covers a lot of ground.

First of all, it's about my
mother, who I loved dearly.

It's about confidence.
It's about bullying.

It's about acceptance.

♪ So with patches on my britches ♪

♪ And holes in both my shoes ♪

♪ In my coat of many colors ♪

♪ I hurried off to school ♪

♪ Just to find the others laughing ♪

♪ And making fun of me ♪

♪ In my coat of many colors ♪

♪ My mama made for me ♪

I think about where I am now
compared to where I've been,

where I came from, and
how much I have achieved.

And that is my philosophy,
that little song.

It's okay to be different.

You know, it's okay to not
be like everybody else,

in fact, it's not only not okay,

it's wonderful that you are who you are.

♪ Oh, hello, hello, show time, show time ♪

This one.

Things are different
once you become a star,

but I wanted to be a star

and I don't complain about that now,

because I appreciate the fact

that people know me and recognize me.

I wanted to be seen, I
wanted to be recognized,

I wanted to be appreciated for what I do.

Okay, I'm good to go.

But it's so different now, the business,

than when it was when I was
a girl here in Nashville.

I'm so happy that I was
one of those old timers

that really got to grow with it

and know what it was really
about, to really build a career,

not necessarily have someone
else build one for you

and just hand it to you.

Ladies and gentlemen,

celebrating 50 years as a
member of the Grand Ole Opry,

please welcome Dolly Parton.

Hey, hey!

How are you?

Whoo!

Hello, everybody!

And you and you.

Hey, up there.

Well, 50 years at the
Grand Ole Opry.

Well, this is really a
special night for me,

and thank you for standing up for me

or were you just resting
your butts?

That woman's not retiring.

There's no reason for her to retire.

She's still writing songs.

She's got like over 1000
songs people haven't heard.

She has Dollywood, you
know, she's making movies.

She's not going anywhere anytime soon.

This is a song I like
to end my show with

and it kind of, of course, it
was written for other reasons,

but it says the perfect thing to you.

♪ Mm mm mm mm mm ♪

♪ If I should stay ♪

♪ I would only be in your way ♪

♪ So I'll go, but I know ♪

♪ I'll think of you each step of the way ♪

♪ And I will always love you ♪

I think there will
always be country music.

I do believe that people
will search out those songs

like the "Jolenes," hopefully,

or the "I Will Always Love Yous"

or the Hank Williams songs
and all those great songs,

because they are the stories
that people naturally need.

♪ That's all I'm taking with me ♪

There are few finer songwriters,

male or female, that have ever lived.

Her life's work to me is a narrative

of painful, beautiful,
poetic, melodic commentary

on what it's like to be human

and on what it's like to
be a woman in America.

Dolly, it is my pleasure to induct you

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I'm a rock star now!

♪ I hope life treats you kind ♪

♪ And I hope you have
all you ever dreamed of ♪

♪ Oh, I do wish you joy ♪

♪ And lots of happiness ♪

♪ But above all this, I wish you love ♪

♪ And I will always love you ♪

♪ I will always love you ♪

♪ I will always love you ♪

♪ Know I will always love you ♪

Thank you so much!

♪ Oh ♪