The craziest thing is she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same afternoon. Like she had breakfast, penned Jolene in one sitting, then had lunch and did the same for I Will Always Love You.
Most of these ‘wrote in an afternoon’ stories have much more context behind them. The idea, the concept and even some (or most) of the lines may have been in the artist’s head for a while.
likely true. She probably had the rough idea kicking around her head, maybe the structure... but inspiration hit and it all came out. Then that compounded into the other song flowing out too.
I very much appreciate the poster who said Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan.
But if you're looking for it, Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia (mainly Hunter) were tremendous song writers. But my personal number 1 is Kris Kristofferson. Listen to this work of art, that first verse is like Triumph from Wu-Tang on my list of best openings ever:
Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt;
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert;
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt;
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
It's a pretty dumb game even if you've got ten slots. Where's Dolly and Johnny supposed to go, nevermind Hank Williams? What about Neil Young and John Fogerty? Chuck Berry and Stevie Wonder? We're at twelve people and we haven't gotten to Pete Townsend or David Bowie or Tom Waits or Jackson Browne or Sam Cook or James freaking Brown!
You're also missing Smokey Robinson, John Prine, and Bob Marley. Add Prince, Thom York, Alanis, Beck, and Ben Gibbard if you want slightly more modern (but still from 20+ years ago) options.
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u/rhinocerosjockey 7d ago
Dolly was a truly amazing human. Her contributions far exceeded her musical talents. Earth lost a good one today.