How Beyoncé Changed the Lyrics to "Jolene" in Her Cover of the Dolly Parton Classic
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We saw it coming, but we still couldn't be fully prepared for this Dolly Parton and Beyoncé collaboration. On top of a cover of Parton's iconic 1973 song "Jolene," Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter features an audio message recorded by Mrs. Dolly P herself.
Parton revealed that "Jolene" may be featured on "Cowboy Carter" in an interview with KnoxNews a few weeks back, and Beyoncé confirmed when she posted a graphic of the album track list earlier this week. The graphic also included a track titled "Dolly P," which we now know is the interlude to "Jolene" recorded by Dolly herself.
In the interlude, Parton says "Hey Mrs. Honey B, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming lock of auburn hair, bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same." Dolly is, of course, referring to her song "Jolene," but also nodding to Beyoncé's song "Sorry" from her Lemonade album with her famous lyric about "Becky with the good hair."
Parton hinted about her involvement with the project the night before Cowboy Carter was released, tagging Beyoncé and writing, "Just call me Dolly P 🤠" beneath a throwback photo. Understandably, fans were thrilled to see Dolly's support of Beyoncé's venture into the the world of country music. "Iconic queen supporting another iconic queen! This will go down in the country history book 🤠," "I’m loving the support and warm welcome Dolly is showing Beyoncé’s country songs/album. Didn’t expect anything less from my fairy godmother. ♥️" and "You and Bey are going to break the internet aren’t y’all? 🤩💖🤠," fans commented.
"Dolly P" leads directly into Beyoncé's cover of "Jolene," which follows the classic tune, though Queen B made a few changes to the lyrics. In Dolly's original version, the song begins: "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/ I'm beggin' of you, please don't take my man/ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/ Please don't take him just because you can." In Beyoncé's version, the song begins: "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/ I'm warning you, don't come for my man/ Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/ Don't take the chance just because you think you can."
In Dolly's version, the narrator is begging and seemingly helpless to Jolene's advances on her man, while in Beyoncé's modernized version, she warns Jolene not to cross her. "I can easily understand why you're attracted to my man, but you don't want the smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else," Beyoncé sings. "Jolene, I'm warning you woman, find your own man," she continues later in the song.
Whether you're partial to Dolly's original version or applaud Beyoncé's twist on the classic, it's clear the cover has the Dolly Parton stamp of approval.
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