17th September 2024: International Music Day + Reclaim The Crone
I love Dolly Parton and today I pay tribute to her.
Today is International Country Music Day and I am taking the liberty of combining it with the first ‘Reclaim The Crone’ issue.
My love for Dolly is about more than her music. It is because from an early age, she knew her self-worth. It is how she managed to maintain that self-worth as she professionally grew up in what was then, a very male dominated field. Dolly valued her talent, her intellectual capital for want of a better phrase for her song writing and even though she had her own style, there has always been an authenticity to her. Dolly didn’t allow others to push her around. She stood up for herself, stood her ground but did it in her own Dolly way. Through her music. No shouting, no creating unnecessary conflict, just by being herself. And I LOVE that about her.
Early in her career Dolly had success with Porter Wagoner on his TV show. When the time came for Dolly to move on, he did not want her to go and pressured her to continue with the shows. From this situation came one of her best known songs “I will always love you”. This song was a gesture to thank him for the opportunity he had given her, but telling him it was time for her to move on. (How classy is that?).
Dolly was a woman who could say no. Elvis Presley wanted to record “I will always love you” and for good reason, Dolly said no, although she has said she would have loved to hear him sing it, her answer was no. The deal offered to her in no way favoured her as the songwriter. This is what I admire about Dolly and why she strikes me as a woman who understands her self-worth. Since then, we know that Whitney Houston had a huge hit with it from the film ‘The Bodyguard’ and Dolly has said in a documentary that she did well out of that (that is my interpretation and not her exact words). And so she should do well out of it. She wrote the song.
What I also love about Dolly is how comfortable she is with her physical appearance. Dolly owns how she looks and dresses. From the wigs to the make-up to the clothes and nails. She has created a persona with this image and yet somehow, she still comes across as authentic.
Add on to this Dolly has a long-standing marriage and become a philanthropist. In 1988 The Dollywood Foundation was created ‘to inspire children in her home county to achieve educational success’. The Imagination Library has provided children all over the world with books and the foundation also funds scholarships. During the Covid years she also donated money to support the creation of vaccines.
For clarity, I am not reclaiming Dolly as a Crone because she does not have any children, but because of the spiritual meaning of being in our Crone years:
“A Woman who lives/has lived a rich and fulfilling life that has moved her beyond knowledge to wisdom. A Woman respected and revered for her wisdom, truth telling and her compassion and capacity to love. A Crone has a beautiful spirit that she shares with the world.”
Dolly is all of that, with rhinestones on.
Thank you for reading. To learn more about Dolly see the links below for documentaries and the Dollywood Foundation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000crhq
https://www.channel5.com/show/dolly-parton-in-her-own-words-d103f64a-3372-448e-8150-95ca765617bc
https://imaginationlibrary.com/the-dollywood-foundation/
https://imaginationlibrary.com/the-dollywood-foundation/board-of-directors-uk/