How could anyone not love Dolly Parton? Blasphemy, in my humble opinion…
The country icon has a truly incredible story, coming from practically nothing deep in the Smoky mountains of East Tennessee to become one of the most iconic and beloved musicians of all-time. While she’s known for her larger-than-life personality and signature platinum blonde hair, at the end of the day, she’s a simple, salt-of-the-earth girl who loves God, her family, and country music, and I think those three anchors are what have kept her so humble and grounded all of these years.
Truly, I’ve never, ever heard of one bad encounter anyone has ever had with her, and she’s a light in a world that is full of plenty of people who need it, though it sounds like she might not have been a fan-favorite at her high school back home in Tennessee, as hard as that is to believe.
In a 1977 interview with Chet Flippo for Rolling Stone, he asked Dolly about her high school days, saying in the feature that she had to be the “foxiest schoolgirl in Tennessee history,” though Dolly says that wasn’t necessarily the case.
She explained that she was the most popular girl in school, but it was “in the wrong way,” and people certainly talked about her but a lot of the time they were rumors and lies, because of how she looked… “big in the boobs, small in the waist and big in the butt,” to use her words, and she ” had that foxy personality, too,” which has certainly served her well in her career, but made it hard to be a teenager at times, except for with the boys, as she points out:
“Well, I tell you, it was kinda rough for me because I was the most popular girl in school in the wrong way. Everybody talked about Dolly but I didn’t have as many friends as I should have had. My best friends were boys because they understood me and weren’t tryin’ to find fault.
But, you know, I never dated the boys in school. I seemed so much older. I only had a couple of dates with boys from school and I felt like their mother or somethin’. I had a lotta stories told on me, a lotta lies, just because I looked the way I did. I always was big in the boobs, small in the waist and big in the butt.
I just grew up that way and I had that foxy personality, too.”
Classic Dolly… and even though some might not have been as charmed, I have no doubt it’s simply because they were jealous, and as you can imagine, Dolly says she was always very friendly with everyone, though she thinks it might have “scared” some people, too.
It’s not hard to think other girls around her age were intimidated, to say the least, even by a high school-aged Dolly Parton, because truly, who on earth could compete with that? But Dolly says she eventually found her home in the music business, touring the world and churning out hits for millions of beloved fans, which she has managed to sustain over decades:
“I mean, I was real outgoin’, real friendly, I think it was scary to people. But I never felt I belonged. Never belonged in my whole life, even as a little kid. I was just different and so I never really found my place till I moved to Nashville and got in the music business.
That was my real place, so I fit in. I was born restless, I really was. I guess I was born with gypsy fever. Now, there is nothin’ I like better than goin’ home to have a few weeks off, do as I please, go in the yard half-naked, without makeup and without havin’ my hair done, or play with the dogs or romp around with the cows. But when I am ready to go, there is nothin’ I like better than to pack it up and head it on out.
I just couldn’t stay, and in my later years when I am writing books and poems mostly I think I will travel around and do that: I really wouldn’t want to stay at home all the time; that would be a bore.”
Dolly has built herself an incredible empire, as she’s the brains behind and heart behind ventures like her Imagination Library foundation, Dolly Beauty, Dolly Wines, and so much more, the woman knows business, and there’s no greater musical talent the world has ever seen. I hesitate to say that God has favorites, but when it comes to Dolly Parton, I think I would have to make an exception.
I mean, doesn’t everyone want to be Dolly Parton when they grow up? I know I do…
“All I Can Do”
