Dolly

'THE DARK SIDE OF THE DOLL.....A
CLOSER LOOK AT THE BEST OF DOLLY PARTON

Dolly Parton has been at the forefront of Country music for over thirty
years. She has been involved with a staggering fifty albums since 1968
and has quite rightly received seven Country music awards.
She remains one of the the most significant and versatile popular
entertainers in American history but her appeal is truly global.
She has won three peoples choice awards and has her own star on The
Walk of Fame.
She has the vocal singing quality of an angel, she is a huge
songwriting talent,she is an acknowledged actress,whith many films to
her credit. She is indeed, the all round entertainer.
She also holds a striking presence, perhaps the actual embodiment of
femininity. Her natural beauty transcends her into a living work of
art. All these factors and more project Dolly into the realm above
iconic status. She is the saviour of our time. She might even be God
him/herself. I love her, we all do, we need Dolly.
It is perhaps more than a little sad then, that with such gifts which
she so selflessely bestows on her adoring subjects, she may have, in
the ultimate analysis, neglected to attend to her own inner
well-being.

This piece is an attempt to show that through her amazing music, with
specific reference to "'"The Best of Dolly Parton","' a different and
as yet untold story begins to emerge. A story that has been cleverly
planted as a sub-plot by Dolly herself. The story of a more vulnerable,
sad and emotional mortal which, perhaps tells of the mental
decline of ;

"A rare and gentle thing, fa, la, la, la, la".

To understand Parton we need to really grab hold of her huge offerings,
bury ourselves in her enormous talents and not come up for air until we
are almost suffocated in the astonishing expanse of her
abilities.

Dolly was a Hillbilly!!
She was born in the Appalachian hills of East Tennesse.
A bumpkin raised in poverty.
To really get a hold of Dolly we must realise that whatever wealth has
ensued along her glistening path she has always felt the pull of the
hills. Although obviously needing to break from these she has also used
the hills' influence to positive effect. We can still hear the
hillbilly sound in her music. Notice the slide guitar and banjo and
blatent hillbillyism during the musical refrain of "'"Do I Ever Cross
Your Mind"'" and again, the slide guitar in "'"Lonely Comin
Down""'.
Whilst she acknowledges her roots(with peroxide) she has to be
commended for her determination in not allowing them to hold her back.
She was never going to be content with that or even a "'"9 to 5""'
existance where she tells us that;

"'"They just use your mind and then never give you credit"'"

Instead she started by jumping in the "'"shower ('til) the blood
start(ed) pumping".
"'
Once down from the hills Parton poured herself a huge "'"cup of
ambition","' drank the lot and unleashed her ways on a waiting
world.
With this strength of character and her natural beauty we can see that
she is the original "'"Steel Magnolia"'." Indeed we have to admire her
gritty determination and defiance in using what she has to stay afloat.
She must be commended for climbing down from the hills against all odds
to become a Deity. It is no suprise that millions world wide continue
to worship "Deity Doll"(not to be confused with that other God from the
same area "Deputy Dog"- as the two sound the same said very
fast.)

Dolly has an amazingly distinctive voice(notice her natural vibrato in
"'"We Used To")"'
She also uses the spoken word to great effect with her characteristic
"sh" for "s" in the word Christmas in the heart-tugging
"'"D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
"'This voice could not go unheard and she secured herself a recording
cotract shortly after graduating from high school. It wasn't long
before Parton propelled herself into the dizzy heights of country music
stardom, first with music partner Porter Wagoner and then as a solo
artist. She ammased a string of top selling albums with many chart
topping singles and secured herself as a singing superstar and one of
the greatest songwriters of Country music.

She has undoubtedly been an inspiration to other singers. Her classic
"'"I Will Always Love You""' was a hit for Whitney Houston and is about
to be huge again for Ric from "Pop Idol", in fact as huge as Ric
himself!

The art of Country music songwriting is the ability to spin a yarn, and
few can equal Dolly at grabbing our attention with heart tugging
stories told in song. Although not all the songs on the album are
self-penned, Dolly is still able to belt out others' lyrics with the
same heart felt passion.
Everyone of Doll's songs tells of a fascinating and individual story.
Even more intriguing is that it can be detected that Dolly has very
cleverly and intricately weaved another tale through the album. A tale
even more full of woe than the songs themselves. The story of fragile
human emotion and Dolly's own fragility is told revealing a sinister
state of affairs.

The intricate weaving of the actual music can be detected on occassions
which is a pointer to how cleverly constructed this album is. Note the
delicate musical motif "la, la, la, la, la". in "'"Lonely Comin Down""'
which teases us with a taste of things to come until we are musically
transported there again with the same motif in "'"Love Is Like A
Butterfly."'"
Although Dolly's chosen musical genre is Country she is not afraid to
acknowledge other styles. Notice her respect for two classic songs.
First, the intro to "'"We Used To""' is very similar to "'"Stairway To
Heaven""' and then we get touches of "'"The House Of The Rising
Sun."
"'It takes great sensitivity to write the songs that Dolly has written
but perhaps with such sensitivity we also get a vulnerability. It is
this vulnerable quality mixed with her powerful status that may have
taken its toll on Doll which, in turn, has created devastating
consequences.

On leaving the hills Dolly asked "'"Mama (to) Say A Prayer""' as she
knew she was an innocent abroad. This venturing into city life gave
Dolly the realisation that she had; "'

"woke up this morning in a strange place"(Lonely Comin Down).
"'
Not to be dettered however, by this acknowledged vulnerability, it
wasn't long before
she was "'"Two Doors Down""' and "'"joining the party.""'

It is evident that, away from the less than healthy relationships with
the hill people, Dolly embarked on a party lifestyle ultimately in a
search to find her Mr. Right.
The party, it seems ended early, however, and the return of "'"The
Lonely Comin Down""' became an all too familiar feeling.
The cruel twists of fate that leave Dolly with a broken heart happen
regularly. She sings poignantly about failed relationships time and
time again. All the love she gives in abundance is never
reciprocated.
It is not surprising then, that so much emotional battering has left a
badly bruised heart, which in turn has lead to a biting bitterness.
This, combined with the power of her position has created a toxic
mixture of addled emotions which I think have lead her to a very dark
place indeed.
Also, no matter how many "'"cup(s) of ambition""' Dolly drank, her
thirst was never quenched and a hunger for power followed.
Her iconic status must have inflated her ego. Not only does she have
her own website and chapel, she owns her own theme park boastfully
called "'"Dollywood.""'
This power can rear its ugly head in other ways. Notice how she doesn't
ask, but savagely demands all her friends to "'"gather round""' in
"'"It's My Time""'. She tells them in no uncertain terms that "'"it's
my time to cry, oh, oh, oh""' whether they like it or not. So this use
of power has manifested itself in less socially graceful ways.
Back to the seeds of bitterness, and there are countless references to
her broken heart and her deep hurt. None perhaps more painful than in
"'"Sweet Music Man"'" where she muses;

"'"I want to hold your hand as I used to""'

and then;

"' "Then you sang the song you had written for me to someone
new.""'

This is devastating.
I cried openly and loudly on hearing this. We are surely in collective
grief with Doll at this point. We must acknowledge Kenny Rogers for the
lyric but it is still heart wrenchingly executed by Doll.
All she really wanted was for someone to "'"reach out your arms and
hold me" (Hold Me)"'. Maybe this was a plea for "'"Bobby's Arms""', but
why just the arms?
Her hurt is echoed in "'"We Used To""' but as if this was not enough,
two more experiences upset her again. In these experiences she learns
vengeance and jealousy.
First, her taste for vengeance is born out of the blatant hypocrisy of
"'"The Harper Valley P.T.A."
"'Then, after begging and pleading with "'"Jolene""' not to "'"take my
man""', the monster of jealousy is grown.
A dangerous cocktail indeed. Let us consolidate;
A broken heart, devastating lonileness, power, bitterness, jealousy and
vengance. This hurt is further fuelled in "'"D.I.V.O.R.C.E.""' where
again she is having to deal with a disintergrating relationship and is
also starting to resent the child by having to s.p.e.l.l. everything
all the time.
I think with all these emotions racing around Parton, the seeds of
paranoia have been sown. This is hinted at in "'"9 To 5""' where she
sings "'"I swear sometimes that man is out to get me.""'

So we are now dealing with Dolly delusions on top of everything else.
Unfortunately the problems are compounded and continue to grow. We hear
this in the aggressive
and angrily titled "'"Baby I'm Burning.""'

She admits; "'"Baby I'm burning out of control."

"'We can hear the aggressive passion in the frantic rythmn of the song,
and the use of occassional space age lazer type sound effects convince
us further that this is a mind in turmoil. There are worrying
references that suggest that she could be setting fire to
people-

"Baby I'm burning body and soul."

Perhaps at this point she is reaping revenge on all the lovers who
spurned her. Is she perhaps cooking the rest of "Bobby?"
In "'"I Really Got The Feeling""' there is the hint that she has turned
to canabalism;
"'
"You're a tender man""'

and again in "'"Bobby's Arms""';"'
"'
"'"They are strong but they're tender.""'

Clearly, poor Parton is becoming unhinged here.
Perhaps the saddest aspect to this is that, despite the obvious
insanity, she is able to maintain, at least in part, a slight awareness
of her condition. She sings;

"'"I am a bad seed that fell by the way""' in"' "The Seeker""'

Her knocked self-esteem along the way renders her.....

"'"a vessel that's empty and useless""'

and she admits that she is;

"'"A poor sinful creature, there is no more weaker than I am.""'

Even this last ounce of awareness however, becomes sadly eroded to
perhaps devastating consequences as we are taken on a very dark and
perhaps the most frightening story of all. A story in which all the
confused emotions of Dolly's disintergrated mind collaborate to create
a foul and dark tale with a sinister conclusion.
I am of course refering to the story of"' "ME AND LITTLE ANDY."
"'On the surface this is a story of concern, humanity and compassion,
but the sub-plot reveals a very dark human tragedy. So the scene is
set.

The eerie atmospheric sound of the wild wind adds a chilling backdrop
of anticipation.
Dolly tells us of the "'"awful storm""' which is raging outside the
walls where she is confined. We can picture Parton alone in her wind
ravaged house miles away from any living creature, cocooned in her
weather attacked lair and her own madness. The "Lonely" really has
"Come Down" on Parton and has decided to stay. When she hears a knock
at the door it is with a mixture of surprise, relief, curiosity and
fear that she goes to see who on earth could be out in such a
tempest.
Imagine her suprise then, to see a ragged little girl and her pet dog.
Imagine her further surprise to learn that the dog is called
"Andy!"
Dolly, obviously in need of company, asks them to come in, but all that
the little girl "Sandy" can say to this apparent act of generosity
is;

"'"AINT YA GOT NO GINGER BREAD, Aint ya got no candy?!""'

Oh no, it is not enough that Dolly has offered shelter, and as if that
wasn't enough to ask for, Sandy continues without so much as a
"please";

"'"Aint ya got an extra bed for me and little Andy?!"
"'
The bare-faced cheek of these strangers would be enough to rattle
anyone's cage but with Parton's problems, the animal has torn itself
from the cage and is frothing with manic ferocity.
Sandy attempts to play on Parton's sympathy;

"'"Pattercake the bakers man, my mummy ran away again.""'

We have seen how Dolly has tugged at our heart strings with her
timeless classics. She is master of the heart-tug, she knows how to do
it, so any diluted attempt to pull on Dolly's and she can sniff out
immediately what is being attempted for selfish gain. Sandy digs a
bigger hole for herself by continuing her attempts to elicit sympathy
and by being down right cheeky;
"'
"I wonder if you'd let us stay with you. I you don't love us no one
will."
"'
We have already seen how the seed of hatred towards children was
planted in "'"D.I.V.O.R.C.E."'"
All that having to spell everything to a child had made Dolly very
A.N.G.R.Y.
Sandy and the unwitting Andy do little to help this when Sandy suggests
another reason why Dolly should let them stay in her spinsters
home;

"'"London Bridge is falling down!""'

We can only guess at the rage within Doll at this point. She must be
thinking; "What the hell has the collapse of London Bridge got to do
with me, I'm from Arkansas for Chrissakes."
Why it should be of concern to Sandy and Andy is uncertain also.
Doll, I think, finally loses the plot completely. We have all the
aforementioned emotions and afflictions erupting to the surface in what
we can only imagine resulted in a scene of gruesome, barbaric and utter
bloody carnage.
Sandy and Little Andy stood absolutely no chance in the hands of this
crazed and wild woman.
Dolly, of course glosses over this hideous scene. All she cares to tell
us about their early departure from their mortal coils is;

"'"That night as they slept the Angels took them both to
heaven.""'

An understatement indeed. She fails to tell us that before the Angels
came, The Devil himself, "Devil Dolly" went ballistic.
The demonic Dolly is further crazed by the later haunting she receives
as the ghostly voice of Sandy can be heard through the terryfying wind
once again;

"'"AINT YA GOT NO GINGER BREAD?!"
"'
All that is missing at the end of this is a Vincent Price type horror
chuckle.
And so we leave the demented Doll with what she feared all along;
"'The "Lonely Comin' Down,""' in a wind swept prison in the middle of
nowhere.
What chills us further is that after such a horrible scene, Dolly is
left singing the beautiful "'"Love Is Like A Butterfly""' as if nothing
has happened.
We can almost hear the "'"soft wings in flight.""'

THE END