Sony Music NashvilleDolly Parton created one of the most sung-about love triangles in modern musical history, as she begged the fictional “Jolene,” “please don’t take my man.”
Now, with her latest single, Cam imagines that “Jolene” didn’t know she was dealing with a married man, and goes to his wife, whom she calls “Diane,” to clear the air.
“The song is the other woman coming forward,” Cam explains, “reaching out to the wife, saying ‘The guy I’ve been seeing, I didn’t realize he was married, but it’s your husband. And you deserve to know.’ So it’s promoting this open communication: honesty, integrity in a hard situation — not making it harder.”
It turns out Dolly herself is a fan of Cam’s continuation of her story, even though she’s holding on to another “Jolene” chapter of her own.
“It’s an amazing song!” she tells ABC Radio about Cam’s single. “And I was happy that somebody was touched enough to want to do that.”
“I actually have a version of my own,” Dolly continues. “You know, the ‘Jolene’-the-other-woman song. Someday I had planned to do that as a duet. But she did a really good job on that and I’m real proud of her. She’s really one of my favorite new artists in the business.”
Just as she did in “Jolene,” Dolly admits to being jealous — of Cam’s look.
“Don’t you love that curly [hair]? That’s the hair I prayed for, and the Lord didn’t answer that prayer,” she laughs. “Maybe in another life.”
“I can go buy me one!” she continues. “But it won’t be the same as that curly hair growing right out of your head! I think she’s a beauty!”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
