Beyoncé rewrote the lyrics to Dolly Parton’s classic country song, “Jolene,” giving the single a more confrontational tone compared to the original.
The singer released her new album “Cowboy Carter” on Friday, including the previously released single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Parton alluded to the news earlier this month after telling Knox News, “I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about that.”
It turns out Parton is a collaborator on the single and speaks during the interlude. “Hey miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about?,” she says, recalling the line “Becky with the good hair” from Beyoncé’s 2016 album “Lemonade.”
Parton continued, “Reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flamin’ locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color but it hurts just the same.”
Overall, the entire tone of Beyoncé’s song is very different. In Parton’s 1973 version, a woman begs a beautiful stranger not to “steal her man” just because she can. While Parton pleaded with the woman, whose “beauty is beyond compare” and whose “smile is like a breath of spring,” Beyoncé issues threats to her.
“Jolene, I’m a woman too/ Thе games you play are nothing new/ So you don’t want no hеat with me, Jolene,” the R&B star sings in the first verse.
“Jolene, Jolene, I’m warning you, don’t come for my man,” Beyoncé threatens during the cover of the song. “You’re beautiful beyond compare,” she admits, but then adds how it “takes more than beauty and seductive stares” to break up her relationship.
“I’m warnin’ you, woman, find you your own man” Beyoncé sings in the chorus, “I’m still a Creole banjee b**ch from Louisianne (Don’t try me).”
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Previously, the singer said she decided to make the album after feeling excluded from the country genre.
“This album has been over five years in the making,” she wrote in part in a social media post.
“It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
