Dolly Parton

Re: the song 9 to 5 and whether she’s ever worked 9 to 5. Regardless of the fact that she’s worked her arse off her whole life, she wrote that song specifically for the film, for the female characters in it.

I like her series on Netflix called heartstrings based on her hit songs. I especially liked how Jolene was portrayed. She was portrayed as someone to empathise with and not a bitchy husband stealer.

There are some really odd comments on this thread.

That's fucking right.

I greatly admire Dolly, sadly I'm the only fan in the family so I tend to play her in the car. I'm halfway through Dolly Partons America podcast and thoroughly enjoying it.
She is so much more than 'just' a talented country writer/singer.

There's a 1977 interview with the much respected Barbara Walters.

There must be a full length clip somewhere, but I only seem to find snippets.

Country music was, and still is, a very crowded market. To poor people in her world, it embodied the escape that Reality TV, showbiz and sports represents to many youngsters today.

The Dolly 'look' was to differentiate herself from the rest of the crowd and in a few interviews I read, she freely admitted that it came from prostitutes she saw whenever her family made a trip into the local town.

www.indy100.com/article/dolly-parton-fashion-shame-interview-barabra-walters-special-8784971

To have established herself as a singer-songwriter is such a cut throat industry is one thing, but to have the business nous, the hard faced tenacity and the energy to remain a respected figure and to turn down what would have been a very lucrative prospect (saying "No" to Elvis and Colonel Parker ), means that she is something else altogether.

She has tits of steel that woman.

There are some really odd comments on this thread.

I like Dolly Parton, enjoy some of her music in passing, whenever I have seen her speak, she has been clever, witty and charming, and I admire her gumption.

I don't think she deserves to be attacked for having big boobs or plastic surgery. It's not something I think is ever really necessary and I don't support that industry, but I'm not going to tear apart a woman who has made those choices, because it's not like she could take it back anyway.

The accusation that the women who post on FWR think women should grow balls and never be feminine is well off the mark, though, as is the frankly odd suggestion that feminism is about using your femininity. Feminism about women, however they come across, being liberated from a system which squishes them into roles to use and abuse them.

Some of those women will be feminine, some will not, some will be weak, some strong. Feminism is about liberating all women from a system of oppression.

The epitome of feminism is not maintaining femininity while being strong.

It's being the woman you are and working to help liberate your sisters in humanity, be they feminine or not.

Shack

Just trying to post some photos of a replica of the shack Dolly grew up in Tennessee. She grew up in a tough, deprived area and has brought so many jobs for ordinary people to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee through Dollywood, the Horse Stampede etc.

She’s also an amazing lyricist, someone who ploughed their own furrow, and who kept the song rights I believe to ‘I will always love you’.

I LOVE dolly.

Well I watched the documentary and was left feeling I still knew very little about her. She definitely keeps a lot of herself very private.
I'd love to know more about her early family dynamic. She seems to have an almost desperate need to appear overly feminine. The surgeries are beginning to look freakish imo. Uncomfortable.
Also her relationship with Porter Wagonner. Now there was one creepy looking dude.
In my youth the American country style of Dolly and her ilk was a joke. The hideous tacky outfits, the wigs and the general hokum. Shudder. But like many performers, especially if they are really talented like Dolly they come out the other side and gain a dignity and gravitas.
Personally I find many of her songs quite boring and repetitive.

"She is mostly known for her big boobs and singing style."

Maybe if you don't know anything about music, but she is an amazing songwriter and lyricist, as well as doing a ton of charity work.

Yes, she has a certain look that she is also famous for but that's really the least interesting thing about her.

I am not even a real fan (in that I never listen to her music) but I love her. Sometimes I hear one of her songs in passing or on a programme and it pulls me up short and I listen. Her voice is sublime and unique, her song writing moving and real. She's very intelligent, calm, wise, kind and funny. Some of the lyrics in her songs are very clever and tell a lyrical story. (The documentary explained the lyrics around a song called the Grass is Blue, very clever songwriting).

The documentary was so interesting with viewpoints from Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. They had a few pyjama parties with her when they filmed 9-5 and said that they never saw her without a wig and makeup. Lily said they never really knew anything about her, she set a boundary around herself and was very private. I think her wigs and make up are a disguise. She can probably move around the world unmade up and nobody would know it was her. For instance, she always wears long sleeves, but is rumoured to have arms full of tattoos which you never see. When I first read this years ago I thought it was a joke, but apparently not.

I think I will add Be More Dolly to my NY resolutions.

I'm a big fan of country alt/country and I've always had the impression there is a definite sisterhood amongst its female performers.

There is a great doc on yourube about the relationship between Dolly, EmmyLou Harris and Linda Ronstadt

I’ve seen her live twice. She plays so many different instruments it’s difficult to count them. Around 13. I couldn’t even name some of them.

Parton's feminine escapism is acknowledged in her words, "Womanhood was a difficult thing to get a grip on in those hills, unless you were a man."[105]

I love Dolly, I love that she keeps her marriage and personal life personal, because that's what her husband wanted and she knows the difference between personal and professional.

I love her honesty about who she is now and where she came from.

Her songs are beautiful, she is an amazing business woman and a philanthropist.

We played 'when Jesus comes calling for me' at my mums funeral and it makes me tear up every time I hear it. Jeanie's afraid of the dark, blue valley mountain and coat of many colours are beautiful songs too.

I love a bit of Dolly

My favourite story is when Whitney Housten was singing ‘I will always love you’ and Dolly sang it at her concert

Whitneys lawyers were on Dolly like flies on shit...a letter for an immediate ban on Dolly singing it or she would be sued

As Dollys lawyers pointed out Dolly had written it, she owned all the rights and as she was LETTING whitney sing it, well then....Dolly could sing it whenever she wanted

And don't forget a business.

One that keep a lot of people in work in an area of historically low employment.

I think some people think we as women have to renege on our femininity in order to be feminists

Don't think that is true...certainly not for me. My feminism is very much rooted in my physical body and the experience of being female. However 'femininity' can also be a performance - because much of the gendered expectation of femininity and masculinity is socially constructed. Best just to be yourself without any forced or pretentious show of gender, surely?

'Dolly Parton the performer' is a stage creation by and large. A show.

I am perfectly capable of thinking she's great while also feeling uncomfortable about cosmetic surgery and hating the pressure on women not to look old, while also telling myself it's her business what she does to her face. People are complex.

I’ve always loved her she’s incredible. She does have many layers. She’s the sole writer of over 700 songs and supported millions of children to read.

Why can't we show our tits proudly and use our femininity

Dolly Parton gets away with this because itv is al part of her stage act/costume. If you "use your tits" in real life it would suggest that you are relying totally on physical attributes specific to sex, and not so much on your own talents, strengths and capabilities. also, for most of us- " using our tits" would also imply that we might have "to take" what goes with that......and most of us would fight and resist that kind of stereotyping and objectification.

knows hardship

Her song "9-to-5" was written by a woman who never worked 9-5 in her life.She is mostly known for her big boobs and singing style.
She's also had a lot of facial plastic surgery which isn't exactly feminist

She comes from extremely poor beginnings. She might be super wealthy now but is the daughter of a sharecropper and nows hardship.

Touring is not easy work. I always get the impression that she is no slacker and is very professional.

Regarding the obvious' comic book' look......She knows it and jokes about it. The hair, the boobs and everything is her stage costume which she knowingly assumes. She's no-ones fool.

Maybe all of the above really just is her perfectly crafted mask.....but she wears it well.

I love Dolly, and Trio is one of my favourite albums.