Dolly Parton wanted Beyoncé to cover her iconic song "Jolene," but she didn't know that the 32-time Grammy winner would put her own spin on it.
In a recent sit down with E! News, the country music legend praised Beyoncé's latest album, Cowboy Carter, and also expressed her surprise upon hearing "Jolene," which she also provided an introduction for.
"Well, I think it was very bold of her," Parton told the outlet. "When they said she was gonna do 'Jolene,' I expected it to be my regular one, but it wasn't. But I love what she did to it."
Parton, 78, added that, as a musician, "you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them."
On her 20-second interlude "Dolly P" featured on Cowboy Carter, Parton says, "Hey, miss Honey Bey. It’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sang about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”
But on Beyoncé's version of the 1973 classic, the Houston native warns Jolene to stay away from her partner, singing "I’m warning you, don’t come for my man," instead of the original "please don't take my man" hook.
Parton saluted Bey's daring take of the song, telling E! News, "She wasn't gonna go beg some other woman like I did. 'Don't steal my man.' Shit, get out here, bitch. You ain't stealin' mine."
Parton was a Cowboy Carter advocate before the album was released in March, even congratulating Bey on her single, "Texas Hold 'Em," going to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
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