What makes Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ a great song, maybe one of the great songs?  Greatness is always ultimately mysterious, but there are definitely some things that jump out from ‘Jolene’ and help make it the classic it is.  (Listen to it here.  And I encourage you to play and sing it yourself.)

‘Jolene’ is simple and direct – but with a few twists that keep it from being predictable.

It’s economical – it tells an emotionally powerful and complex story in two Verses and a Chorus; nothing is wasted.

It repeats the Title ‘Jolene’ many times in both sections – not to singlemindedly pound the Title but because as the melody and story develop, each repetition of the name becomes a greater plea for mercy.

(Dolly, to a beautiful little girl: “‘So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.’ It’s as much a part of the song almost as the song. And because it’s just the same word over and over, even a first-grader or a baby can sing, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.’ It’s like, how hard can that be?”)

It has potent  themes that most people can identify with – jealousy, insecurity, fear of abandonment.  We don’t like to dwell on or admit these feelings, but we have them; and a good song can tap directly into veins that run right below the surface.  Most of us songwriters are either afraid to expose ourselves to the degree Dolly does here – by writing ‘Jolene’ she ‘s admitting she knows very well how it feels to be in this humiliating situation – or we don’t yet have the songwriting chops to handle such a delicate story.  Songs this emotionally naked, yet subtly handled, are hard to come by.

For once, let’s start with the chord progression, which is simple, yet unusual -for example, it’s a 5 bar (Verse) or 5&1/2 bar (Chorus) pattern; its first chord change is C#minor to E; it has the ‘extra’ bar of C#minor at the end of every phrase.

Here are the Chorus chords:

||: 4/4 C#minor E | 2/4 B/D# | 4/4 C#minor | B | C#minor | C#minor :||

Check out the bar of 2/4 in there.  The full bar of C#minor that follows it allows Dolly to stretch out the final peak of ‘Jole-ene’ to great effect.

The Verse stays in 4/4 .  This seemingly small difference from the Chorus keeps the song feeling unpredictable.

||: 4/4 C#minor E | B/D# C#minor | B | C#minor | C#minor :||

Unlike the Chorus melody, which peaks on and holds ‘Jolene’, the Verse melody keeps moving.

The song’s melody stays within a range of an octave and a second (‘B’ up to ‘C#’) and stays within an Eminor scale with no 6th degree (C#, D#, E, F#, G#, B, C#).  In both sections each phrase of the melody basically goes up and then back down… the Verse finishes rising at the ‘G#’, the Chorus rises higher to a climax at ‘C#’.  (Note how that cry of ‘Jolene’ I keep mentioning happens, not accidentally, at the highest point in the song’s melody.)

I also like how the melody starts out with the same notes as the roots of the chords (C# and E) but when it gets to the third chord (B/D#) the melody is an F#, which sounds really nice against the D# bass note.

The lyric is a marvel of economy, pacing, and subtlety.  It’s a monologue – the singer pleads directly to Jolene.  It starts with the Chorus:

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

That last line speaks volumes – it turns ‘Jolene’ from a more general jealousy song into a very specific situation – she might take him away… just because she can.

The long first Verse starts with praising Jolene’s beauty… then halfway through the singer begins to fully and heartbreakingly expose her vulnerability: ‘I cannot compete with you’.

Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

Your smile is like a breath of spring
Your voice is soft like summer rain
And I cannot compete with you, Jolene

He talks about you in his sleep
There’s nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene

And I can easily understand
How you could easily take my man
But you don’t know what he means to me, Jolene

After a repeat of the Chorus, the second Verse is half the length of the first.  The first stanza of this Verse raises the emotional  stakes about as high as they can go in this situation.  The second stanza wraps things up and lays it all out there…

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

She’s helpless, she’s begging… It’s an example of how songwriting can be so strong while paradoxically exposing great weakness, pain, and frailty that, underneath it all, everyone shares (even a stunning dynamo like Dolly Parton).

‘Jolene’ deserves a place with the greatest of songs.  Memorable, satisfying (and disturbing too) on many levels, with themes so basic to human nature that they’ll never go out of style.

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