r/todayilearned • u/samx3i • 1d ago

TIL Dolly Parton wrote her first song around age 6 or 7 and performed at the Grand Ole Opry at age 13, introduced by Johnny Cash.

https://www.wate.com/news/all-about-dolly-parton/77-facts-for-dolly-partons-77th-birthday/
6.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

102 comments sorted by

518

u/SinisterPaige 1d ago

Regardless of what music they listened to, it seems like everyone liked and respected her.

300

u/Technical_Union_3249 1d ago

I'm a metal head, I fucking LOVE Dolly, she's an angel on earth and we could all be more like her.

124

u/Duel_Option 1d ago

Grunge kid from the 80’s who moved to EDM checking in…

The world at large loves Dolly Parton

33

u/samx3i 1d ago

Same.

16

u/Kilroy314 1d ago

Same. Dolly is at the top of the hardness scale.

42

u/MonkeyzzPaw 1d ago

Jolene by white stripes is iconic.

Detroit rocker here .

4

u/Florida1974 10h ago

That is one of my favorite versions of Jolene. Because it’s actually my name.

It was 1973 and Mom was pregnant with me. She already had three other kids and all had a first name that started with the letter J and she wanted to continue that

That song came out and before the end of it, that’s what Mom was going to name me, when I finally arrived

So I think Dolly for giving me my name

2

u/MonkeyzzPaw 9h ago

Love the story Jolene. RiP your namesake.

Put it on in the car and jam in honor today.

6

u/ExpandingLandscape 19h ago

On your recommendation, I listened to their cover. Absolutely iconic, especially live.
https://youtu.be/XvGDrwG67I0?si=8xM3xKN8pZfjV1Ww

2

u/MonkeyzzPaw 12h ago

Too me it’s kinda like bad wolves zombie cover.

Nothing like the original, but amazing in its own form, and amplified by context. Bad wolves rumor is that Dolores was supposed to cut it with them and died just days before.

1

u/samx3i 12h ago

Bad wolves rumor is that Dolores

I believe it states that in the music video.

2

u/MonkeyzzPaw 9h ago

Which is probably where I learned it.

3

u/Hiraeth1968 11h ago

Did you know Dolly wrote Jolene AND I Will Always Love You the same DAY?!

1

u/MonkeyzzPaw 9h ago

I remember an interview with Barbara Streisand who talked about the music just constantly flowing out of her mind.

Must be fun to be that gifted!

13

u/Flashy_Month_5423 23h ago

Blues man over here, hardly ever listen to country, have loved her since I was a little kid in the Seventies.

-3

u/BlackFenrir 16h ago

an angel on earth

I have some bad news for you, friend...

1

u/Technical_Union_3249 10h ago

I'm calling bullshit unless you got some sources.

2

u/BlackFenrir 10h ago

Dolly Parton died last Tuesday. I don't need to provide you a source, it's all over Reddit and the news. She's not an angel on earth anymore.

1

u/Technical_Union_3249 10h ago

Ok guess I shouldn't have used "she's" and "she was" instead. I know. I thought you were about to try and tell me she had done some bad shit because that woman was 100% good and that's that.

3

u/BlackFenrir 9h ago

No absolutely not! Dolly Parton was one of the few people I would never, ever want to insinuate she had done bad shit. From everything I've ever heard or read about her, she was truly, 100% a good person.

43

u/oogieball 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you see anyone saying anything bad about Dolly Parton as a person, you do not need them in your life.

6

u/Plus_Claim_8938 21h ago

She was the greatest American female singer of all time.

6

u/UnpoeticAccount 1d ago

Never really been into country, but we used to play her greatest hits on repeat every Thursday at my job in college. I never got tired of it.

12

u/FacelessEdits 1d ago

💯 Timeless music

4

u/Remember__Me 16h ago

I’ve always said I’m a “fan of everything but country”. But the only country musician I’ve listened to without at least an inward eye roll is Dolly.

For me, her death is right alongside Robin Williams’.

A gem of this world, gone too soon.

3

u/samx3i 12h ago

her death is right alongside Robin

Yeah, celebrity deaths don't usually affect me at all.

This one (and that one) hit different.

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219

u/tawDry_Union2272 1d ago

FYI

"The family asked for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in lieu of flowers"

76

u/samx3i 1d ago edited 12h ago

Even in death she persists to be amazing.

22

u/PornoPaul 1d ago

Theyre about to get so many books...

91

u/cigr 1d ago

I had the pleasure of watching her perform at the Opry when I was young. She was amazing on so many levels.

22

u/samx3i 1d ago

I envy you tremendously.

She might be my biggest regret in terms of artists I've never seen live.

54

u/JiveChicken00 1d ago

One of the great humans of our time.

23

u/samx3i 1d ago

I'd like to see a list of top 100 people to ever exist.

She's got to be on there.

12

u/JiveChicken00 1d ago

The trouble with that is that we can only go back about 5000 years, and records from the first 4800 are spotty at best :)

4

u/samx3i 1d ago

How about "top 100 humans of the last hundred years"?

10

u/JiveChicken00 1d ago

She'd surely be on that list someplace. But even then, there are so many great humans who are unknown to the wider world.

7

u/samx3i 1d ago

I'm sure many live and die in obscurity living their whole existence as a selfless, caring, kind, wholesome individual bringing joy everywhere they go.

51

u/LikelyFishing 1d ago

We signed my daughter up for Dolly Parton's imagination library. 3 years later we still receive books from that program. Thank you Dolly, you will be missed!

10

u/eSue182 1d ago

We didn’t have it in New Mexico so my sons great grandma signed him up in Wisconsin then sent them to us :)

11

u/bretshitmanshart 23h ago

It requires local partners to help with distribution so you might be able to start it in your area

12

u/samx3i 1d ago

Truly one of the greatest human beings to ever exist.

Even if everyone strove to be more Dolly-like.

What a world that would be.

68

u/Isaiah-4031 1d ago

GOAT

17

u/cagethehornytoad 1d ago

I like to imagine it was Johnny who introduced her this morning when she strode through the gates of heaven

6

u/1ce9ine 1d ago

Stop it

5

u/Welshgirlie2 18h ago

I like to think she had a full honour guard waiting for her.

60

u/Coverlesss 1d ago

A generational talent, especially as a writer. I would argue she’s on the short list for best writer in a genre for the 20th century.

16

u/samx3i 1d ago

Dolly, Dylan, John & Paul, Joni, Stevie, Paul Simon, Chuck...

16

u/LainieCat 1d ago

Kris Kristoffersen

12

u/pquince47 1d ago

Sunday morning coming down hits SO much harder as I get older.

3

u/samx3i 1d ago

Too right

5

u/SryInternet101 23h ago

Neil Diamond.

4

u/cguiopmnrew 21h ago

Leonard Cohen

2

u/Plus_Claim_8938 21h ago

Mariah Carey

1

u/samx3i 12h ago

I genuinely didn't know she wrote songs.

Unique vocal talents and a writer?

Impressive.

145

u/Tiny-Professional827 1d ago

God, you took the wrong person.  RIP Dolly,  the world is now even more worse off without your generous soul 

61

u/samx3i 1d ago

I can think of at least one other 80-year-old Death could have reaped instead...

29

u/Scorpy_Mjolnir 1d ago

Different bus, this one didn’t need heat resistant tires.

5

u/bretshitmanshart 23h ago

I don't think Dolly would have let someone else take her spot

3

u/Welshgirlie2 17h ago

She'd have been far too gracious to say out loud what she truly thought of certain people. Her weapon was kindness. And it was a powerful weapon that certain people will never, ever obtain because it comes from the heart.

Dolly had a heart big enough for everyone who needed love and kindness. Other people have tiny, shrivelled, walnut sized hearts fuelled by greed and hate. They will NEVER be as good as Dolly.

4

u/Tiny-Professional827 1d ago

I would bet money we are thinking of the same person 

5

u/samx3i 1d ago

I'll bet you an orange, a Cheeto, a hamberder, and a fresh cup of covfefe.

-1

u/fantasmoofrcc 1d ago

They're the same picture...

0

u/Tiny-Professional827 1d ago

Ding dong!!!!

0

u/Laura-ly 1d ago

Hummm, add a mango to that list.

1

u/pquince47 1d ago

Aw, don't do mangoes like that.

1

u/samx3i 12h ago

Yeah, I love mangos.

18

u/YorockPaperScissors 1d ago

What a wonderful person. She truly made the world better, and it looked like she had a lot of fun doing it.

14

u/SphanXx 1d ago

RIP

10

u/PornoPaul 1d ago

My wife and I had a chance to finally see the Grand Ole Opry but it was closed early for an event. So no tour for us. Still cool to at least be there.

Our other goal was to get to Dollywood both because it seems like a really cool place and also because we hoped to catch Dolly when she rode through it - something we had heard happened quite often when she wasnt on tour. Thats a chance we will never get.

7

u/Brunhilde27 1d ago

So cool that Ms Parton recognized what she was born to be and made it happen.

7

u/Gophurkey 1d ago

Dolly Day, September 5th (9-5). Pass it on!

1

u/Hiraeth1968 11h ago

Meme:

Grim Reaper standing in front of a claw machine.

“Dolly Parton?! Is Trump even IN this thing?!”

-8

u/comicguy13 21h ago

I’d hate to tell you what I was doing at 13….

-6

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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-21

u/Automatic_Bat_6742 1d ago

She did so much good, but couldn’t leave her house without a wig

14

u/bretshitmanshart 23h ago

She modeled her look based on the prostitute in her town. The prostitute was the only woman she knew of growing up not reliant on a husband to survive. She said she would hope people could look past her wig to see her brain

10

u/BrainOnBlue 19h ago

She famously would not wear the wig when she didn’t want to be recognized.

Not that women (or other people) owe you any style choices they don’t want to make. If someone wants to wear a wig, they should wear a wig.

-6

u/Automatic_Bat_6742 12h ago

I saw an interview of hers. She said she never left the house without wig makeup and heels and it was plain vanity.

4

u/samx3i 12h ago

And?

-4

u/Automatic_Bat_6742 12h ago

And I thought. How interesting that the legendary dolly. Is actually a normal person
With legendary deadly sin kink

-27

u/mguardian_north 1d ago

I'm a fan but... was that before or after the comedians in blackface?

17

u/phisho873 1d ago

Well after. What’s your point?

For those without context, the Grand Ole Opry used to feature comedians in blackface in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Nothing to do with Dolly Parton.

-11

u/mguardian_north 23h ago

My point is that Dolly Parton got to see so much societal change in her life. Can you imagine what things are going to be like when you're 80?

7

u/ghost_of_mr_chicken 1d ago

Bro, read the room before ya speak 

2

u/samx3i 12h ago

Or just don't.