Beyoncé Makes Major Updates to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ on ‘Cowboy Carter’
For years, Dolly Parton has advocated for Beyoncé to cover “Jolene,” and her wish has finally come true. With her new country album, Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé tackled the classic song and featured Parton herself on an interlude ahead of the cover. Beyoncé’s take on “Jolene” is a bit different from Parton’s 1973 version. Here’s how she updated the song’s lyrics.
Beyoncé altered the lyrics to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ on ‘Cowboy Carter’
On “Dolly P,” an interlude on Cowboy Carter, Parton gives a message to Beyoncé.
“Hey, Ms. Honey Bee, it’s Dolly P.,” she says. “You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when, except she has flaming locks of auburn hair, bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”
The interlude moves into a cover of “Jolene,” Parton’s 1973 song in which she begs the alluring Jolene to stay away from her man. Beyoncé’s cover has the same irresistible melody as Parton’s, but the lyrics have a sharpness to them that is not present in the original. Beyoncé isn’t begging Jolene to stay away; she’s warning her.
“Jolene, I’m a woman too/ Thе games you play are nothing new/ So you don’t want no hеat with me, Jolene,” she sings.
In the song, she isn’t threatened by Jolene, confident both in her ability to chase her off and the strength of her relationship.
“Me and my man crossed those valleys/ Highs and lows and everything between/ You did roll in like tumbling weeds/ I sleep good happy, ’cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds/ I know my man’s gonna stand by me breathing in my gentle breeze.”
Dolly Parton has wanted Beyoncé to cover ‘Jolene’ for years
Not long before the release of Cowboy Carter, Parton said she was very excited by the news that Beyoncé covered “Jolene.” This was a long time coming for Parton, who publicly expressed her desire to have Beyoncé cover it in 2022.
“I don’t know if she’s ever got the message,” Parton said on The Daily Show. “But wouldn’t that be killer? I think she’s fantastic and beautiful, and I love her music.”
She explained that she thought Beyoncé would be able to give a powerful rendition of her song.
“I would just love to hear ‘Jolene’ done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney [Houston] did my ‘I Will Always Love You,’” she said. “[She’s] someone that can take my little songs and make ’em like powerhouses, so that would be a marvelous day in my life if she ever does do ‘Jolene.’”
Some listeners aren’t fans of the updated lyrics
Though Parton has only expressed excitement over the cover, some Beyoncé fans feel very differently about it. Reddit users expressed their desire to have heard a version of the song in which Beyoncé kicks her man to the curb for his wandering eye. Others wrote that this song seemed to come in direct contrast with Lemonade, in which she rails against her cheating husband.
