The Time Dolly Parton Mooned Her Sister’s Boyfriend
Dolly Parton is America’s sweetheart, but she has a mischievous side. Growing up, she enjoyed playing pranks. She also enjoyed shocking people. One day, she thought it’d be funny to moon her sister’s boyfriend.
Dolly Parton often sang for her sister’s boyfriend
Dolly’s sister Willadeene was an early fan of the “Coat of Many Colors” singer’s voice. She enjoyed her little sister’s voice so much that when her boyfriend Arthur Blalock, Jr. (who they called June or Junie Blalock) would come pick her up for a date, she’d ask Dolly to sing for him.
“The old abandoned chapel was at the foot of the hill our house sat on, and June would usually park his car down there and walk up to the house,” Dolly wrote in her first memoir, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “Willadeene always wanted me to be singing in the old chapel when June drove up because it echoed and sounded really pretty.”
Dolly was flattered her sister liked her singing enough to want it heard by the boy she was dating.
Dolly Parton’s pantsless prank
One evening, the “9 to 5” singer had the mischievous idea to put a spin on the usual singing routine…
There was a swing on the hill that overlooked the road coming up to the Partons’ house. With a good push, a person would swing right over the road. That evening, when June was on his way to pick up Willadeene, Dolly was sent down to the chapel to start singing, to set the mood, as usual. But instead of going into the chapel, she headed to the swing.
“Something possessed me to take my panties off and start swinging out over the road,” wrote Dolly. “When June came up the hill, I pulled my dress up and swung right out so that my butt was right in his face. Then I sang at the top of my lungs: On top of Old Smokey/ All covered with grass/ Look here, Junie Blalock/ At my naked a**!”
June was embarrassed and Willadeene was mortified. But that didn’t stop Dolly from carrying on.
“She snatched him into the house and banged the screen door behind them,” wrote Dolly. “Of course, I did what any young lady in my position would have done. I modulated up one key and sang it all over again.”
Reflecting on the prank
Looking back, Dolly’s not totally sure what exactly prompted the swing stunt.
“I could be feisty and kind of crazy,” she wrote. “Maybe I was jealous that my sister had a boyfriend. Maybe I had gotten all of the attention I could from him with my singing and had simply moved on to the next level.”
Whatever the reason, the “Jolene” singer admits that the prank wasn’t exactly out of character for her.
“I do know that there are many who would say, and rightfully so, that I have been showing my a** ever since,” she wrote. “There’s something about growing up in such limiting surroundings that will make you do crazy things.”
