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The Genius of Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton's great songs involve a tense humming--tension that isn't (or isn't quite) resolved.

In "9 to 5," our heroine has dreams of her ship coming in, but, for the moment, she is also contending with a troglodyte boss.

"Jolene" famously pits Dolly against a temptress; the stakes are Dolly's husband.

"I Will Always Love You" says that Dolly is going, yes, but also? "I'll think of you every step of the way."

My new favorite Dolly--"Marry Me"--is the story of a young bride squaring off against her (prospective) mother-in-law.

The chatty bride is confiding in us; we are her friends.

"I met a boy from Grassy Branch, fine as he can be." With her standard, effortless economy, Dolly gives us an image of the boy: "Sky-blue eyes, big wide smile; tall as a sycamore tree."

These two are going to marry--surely! ("He knows a lot about love and stuff and he's gonna marry me.")

The problem, of course, is Momma: "But you know I don't care. Let her pitch her hissy-fit cuz I ain't a-marrying her."

Momma is loud and as "mad as an old red hen," but the speaker has a resolution: Doesn't matter. He's gotta marry me. Yodel-de-de-de-de-de-de.

 Notice that Dolly the writer might feel less certain than Dolly the speaker. And that's what Dolly is dramatizing: puffed-up boasting as a way of concealing self-doubt.

The tension isn't resolved. Brilliant. A moment of Writing 101!
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