In
music circles, Jolene is the temptress with flowing red hair who flirts with
Dolly Parton’s man in the classic country song “Jolene,” released in 1973.
Jolene
is described as a stunningly beautiful bank teller who was overly attentive to
Dolly’s husband, Carl Dean.
It’s
a true story, Dolly Parton reports, but the teller’s real name is not Jolene.
Tom
Vitale of National Public Radio interviewed Parton, who said she believes the
reason why the song “Jolene” is so popular is because all women can relate to being
threatened by other women who show interest in their beau-beau.
The
teller had a “terrible crush on my husband,” Parton said. “He didn’t have any
business spending that much time at the bank, because we didn’t have that kind
of money. She had everything I didn’t, like legs; she was about 6 feet tall,”
Parton said.
In
the song, Parton confronts Jolene, imploring “please, don’t take him just
because you can.”
Parton
said the song title was inspired by a young fan she met after a performance in
1972.
“There
was this beautiful little girl…beautiful red hair, beautiful skin, beautiful
green eyes, and she was looking up at me…for an autograph. I said, ‘Well,
you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. What’s your name?’”
“She
said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. That’s such a
pretty name; it sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.’”
Parton’s
song lyrics contain the lines: Your beauty is beyond compare / With flaming
locks of auburn hair / With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green.
Fran
Peebles of The Province, an online news media outlet in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, is convinced that Juline Whelan is the real Jolene. Whelan
lives in Prince George, British Columbia, and is a registered nurse.
Peebles
wrote that Whelan was 10 years old in the summer of 1972 when her family drove
down from Canada to the Los Angeles area. Part of the fun was a trip to Knott’s
Berry Farm amusement park.
“They
went to see a show, starring Pat Boone, his daughter Debby Boone, Porter
Wagoner and a little-known, up-and-comer named Dolly Parton,” Peebles said.
Whelan said she loved Parton’ rendition
of ‘Coat of Many Colors.’” Whelan told two reporters from the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), “so I went over to Dolly Parton and got her
autograph.”
“What solidifies the story for
Whelan is how often her name, Juline, is mistaken for Jolene,” CBC reported.
It hasn’t been easy, though, Whelan
acknowledged. Other kids at school would often sing the song at her. “What
little kid wants to be ‘Jolene, don’t steal my man?’ It drove me crazy.”
“But I really love the song now. “It’s
an amazing song,” Whelan laughed
Coming
to the defense of Carl Dean, Maria Carter of CountryLiving magazine
commented on the chance meeting of Carl Dean and Dolly Parton in 1964 – at the
Wishy Washy laundromat in Nashville, Tenn. He was 21 and she was 18.
Dolly
was standing outside the building waiting for laundry to dry, and Carl was
driving by in his white Chevy pickup truck. He stopped to caution her about getting
sunburned, then “chatted her up as she went indoors to fold her clothes,”
Carter said.
“My
first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl,” Carl said. “My second thought
was, ‘Lord, she’s good lookin.’”
They
were married on Memorial Day in 1966 at a private ceremony in Ringgold, Ga., a
small town located southeast of Chattanooga.
“For
their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016, Dolly talked Carl into having a big
blowout ceremony in Nashville – something she said he only agreed to because
they planned to sell photo rights to raise money for charity,” Carter wrote.
From
there, the couple drove their camper to Ringgold to park it by the lake for a second
honeymoon.
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