Jolene, written by Dolly Parton, and originally recorded by her in 1974. To my mind, a fairly haunting and heartbreaking song, and an indicator that her talents are not limited to singing, and being an all-around in general sweetheart. The first link below is to her studio version. There have been many covers of this song over the years (I heard a new one by Nora Jones yesterday), but the one that stands out for me is by White Stripes (there's a studio version, but I chose a live version from 2004). First, Jack White does not change the pronoun, which I like in general because, you know, those were the lyrics. Second, as he is (obviously) a male vocalist, it provides a different take on the original endangered relationship. And I think the vocal itself is really fine and emotional in all the right ways.
I don't know that much about White Stripes - I've heard three albums but have not "followed their career" - I know he gets in fights and might possibly (people have intimated) think quite highly of himself. I'm still not sure if that drummer is his sister or his ex-wife or something else. But none of that matters to me, I only care about the songs; he is a good lyricist, at times very good, and has written songs that are funny, sad, sweet, angry and more adjectives I won't bore you with here. Now, whether you care for his style of music is another matter, of course. At any rate, I can tell you he produced a come-back album for Loretta Lynn in 2004, and another for Rockabilly Queen Wanda Jackson last year, exposing those fine ladies' voices to whole new generations of fans, so he certainly can't be all bad.
And, so, two Jolenes, and please note - on the White Stripes' version the song starts 30 seconds in...
Dolly Parton...
White Stripes...
IBL:mm
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Possibly my favorite Dolly song of all time... now in an entirely different light. Interesting.
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