According to Parton, 'Jolene' is the song most recorded by other artists of all the songs she has written. 217 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of ' the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time' in 2004.

The song has sold 255,300 digital copies in the UK as of January 2017. The song also re-entered the chart when Parton performed at the Glastonbury festival in 2014. The song was released as a single later in the UK, and became Parton's first top ten hit song in the country, reaching number seven in the UK Singles Chart in 1976. As of December 2019, the song had sold 935,000 digital copies in the US since it became available for digital download. It reached the top position in February 1974 it was also a moderate pop hit for her and a minor adult contemporary chart entry. The song became Parton's second solo number-one single on the country charts after being released as a single in October 1973 (prior to the album's release). A musicologist wrote and performed a fourth verse which makes this interpretation explicit when the podcast's hosts played audio of this performance for Parton, she responded that this was 'another take on it'. In 2019, the podcast Dolly Parton's America had an episode addressing the question of whether the narrator's focus on Jolene's beauty and desirability is indicative of her own attraction to Jolene. Onstage in 1988, Parton told the audience that 'Jolene' was a true story and the reason she did not like to sing it too often. Throughout the song, the narrator implores Jolene 'please don't take him just because you can.' The song is unclear about whether or not Jolene intends to steal the narrator's lover, an ambiguity that has been addressed in several answer songs. The song tells of the narrator confronting Jolene, a stunningly beautiful woman, who she worries will steal away her lover/husband. ĭuring an interview on The Bobby Bones Show in 2018, Dolly Parton revealed that she wrote 'Jolene' on the same day that she wrote ' I Will Always Love You'. The thumb-picked guitar on the recording is by Chip Young. In an interview, she also revealed that Jolene's name and appearance are based on that of a young fan who came on stage for her autograph. And instead of the usual horrid discordance that results from altering the tempo of a tune so drastically, we get something quite remarkable-Parton’s voice becomes almost Nina Simone-esque, the more mournful tempo now making the song text ride right up front of it, and the experience is transformed into something entirely novel, yet wonderfully familiar.According to Parton, the song was inspired by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband, Carl Dean, at his local bank branch around the time they were newly married. A few years ago a thought lanced out of the blue at YouTube user Tom Berry, and he took ‘Jolene’ and its 111 BPM and he slowed that mother down, right down, all the way to 33 BPM. The original ‘Jolene’ jogs along at a sprightly 111 beats per minute, its jaunty sway belying its rather bleak and desperate subject matter. Or, rather: A slowed-down version of herself. It’s typical of the brilliance of Parton, however, that it turns out that the best alternative version of her classic would be the one sung by…herself. Those covers have varied in quality but personally I’ve always been quite partial to The White Stripes’ version, as well as Miley Cyrus’. Over the decades, ‘Jolene’ has been covered by… checks notes…yep, everyone.

Jolene at 33 rpm