Dolly Parton celebrates ‘love' song ‘Jolene'

Dolly Parton is celebrating her hit song, Jolene.

The 79-year-old country legend, who recently recovered from a health scare, posted a throwback video of herself performing the song

"52 years of ‘Jolene!’," she captioned the post.

The hit song, released in 1973, is loosely based on a real muse, a redhead who flirted with Dolly’s husband, Carl Dean, who passed away on March 3, 2025.

She described the woman as "beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair" not to "take" her man, as she "could never love again" if she lost him.

As per The Independent, in 2014’s Glastonbury Festival, Dolly said, "[The] song was loosely based on a little bit of truth. I wrote that years ago when my husband… was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be."

Back in 2008, the 9 to 5 hitmaker to NPR, "She got this terrible crush on my husband," adding, "And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention.”

“It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.' So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one," Dolly further mentioned.

As for who is the real Jolene, Dolly took inspiration for the title after an interaction with a young fan.

"One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl — she was probably 8 years old at the time," the singer told NPR.

"And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. I said, 'Well, you're the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So, what is your name?' And she said, 'Jolene.' And I said, 'Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.' I said, 'That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that,'" Dolly Parton concluded.