13 - Jolene (Dolly Parton)

With flaming locks of auburn hair. Man, what a song, and what a RIFF. Shoutout to Chip Young for this one! Love Dolly's melody here, and how it beckons each chord. Classic, classic tune. 

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Transcript

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Jolene is a gem. Really beautiful song by Dolly Parton. And there's a lot of really cool things going on in it musically. But just to start off, she uh really interesting. So according to Dolly Parton, the song was inspired by a redheaded bank clerk who flirted with her husband, Carl Dean, at his local bank branch when they were newly married. In an interview, she also revealed that Jolene's name and appearance are based on that of a young fan who came on stage for her autograph. The real life namesake may actually be Jolene Wellen. Noting her first name has always been confused with the name Jolene. And so the guitar part, the two guitar parts were played by Chip Young and Wayne Moss. Young plays this incredible part. It goes like this. It was a little faster, right? But very slowly. I had to listen to this at like 30% speed on YouTube to really understand what he's doing. It's he's doing this. Which is awesome. He's doing a C sharp. I'm on capable four, by the way, so I'm doing an A minor shape. But it's just C sharp sus two. So right? And then hammering on for like the A minor, or in this case C sharp minor technically. And then love that, and then look at that. I love the the pauses, right? Pause. Pause very quick. Yeah. Beautiful. And then. Oh, so beautiful. I can't get enough of that riff. It really is a very cool riff that really fits the song superbly. And we got the minor one, it goes Jolene, Jolene. That's the three. So the minor one, C sharp minor to E major, Jolene to B, which is the seven chord. Jolene, Jolene. Super high song. Obviously, it's her voice. I can't really sing it. And then I'm begging on you. Please don't take my man. And the guitar part just like. And then and then I've been playing that riff a lot lately. But the the spacing of the bars is very cool. This is it starts in the chorus, right? The song starts with a riff and then it opens up into the chorus first before we get to the verse. Now the chorus is uh it's a measure of four, a measure of two, and then four measures of four. So it's like Jolene, Joel. That's four. Oh one, two, one, two, three, four, one, and then four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, joe, one, two, three, four, no, one, two, one, two, three, four, and then it's like so cool. Measure of four, measure of two, and then four measures of four, four. So, um, that is if you do the math, that's 22 beats. Very irregular. And then the verse is semi-irregular, too. We got your beauty is beyond compare with flaming locks of auburn hair. We have ivory skin and eyes of emerald green. Really beautiful melodic flow with the lyrics. And I love how like the I think it's lapsteel guitar, it joins right as she's saying, Your beauty is beyond compare with flaming locks of Auburn hair, and they harmonize one on the left ear and one on the right ear. Really nice stereo effect. It only joins in there, uh, which I love. But the verse is five measures of four, so it's 20 total beats. So the chorus is 22 total beats, and the verses are 20 total beats. Very nice. Uh um, your smile is like a breath of spring. Your voice is soft like summer rain, and I cannot compete with you, Jolene. It's like super sad. The at also one thing I want to say about the very uh a few first few seconds as the riff is going. Listen to that left ear. There's a there's a very like fast, like it's it's doing like it's like a trill, and it's like deep in the left ear, and it's like low in volume, but it's a very interesting texture. I love the timing of when things join in this song, but that I always thought that was really cool, and I love the timing of the lap steel, right? The flaming locks of uh Auburn hair. Diving into her vocal melody, she does root, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Really nice. She's just going up root, minor, third to the fourth, but then it goes Jolene. So, right, we got she's landing on the fifth after hitting the seventh to the root. Seventh root, and that's the going down to the fifth. Really beautiful melody. Literally, those notes are the pentatonic notes. Root, third, fourth, seventh, root, fifth. Look at that. She covers all the pentatonic notes in just like the first line. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Julie. And then you got the Julie Harmonizing with the Julie. Hum bang it on you, please don't take my nice vocal trill there. Something very unusual happens at the end. It goes, Juli. Listen to that. That note like doesn't belong there. It really sticks out. It goes. Singing the major seventh. So crazy. It would make sense if they went to like the five chord. But they don't do that. It's just like so weird. I don't know why she went went to go with that. Um, but I think it's a really cool and like unique, very different and odd, edgy kind of touch, you know. The lyrics are so helpless and sad. Now you could have your choice of men. I could never love again, cause he's the only one for me, Jolene. And I love this. I had to have this talk with you. My happiness depends on you, and whatever you decide to do, Jolene. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I'm begging of you. Please don't take my man. I'm begging of you. Sometimes she goes, I'm begging of you, which touches the minor six, right? Such a sad song. And I know there's some famous covers like uh Jack White and the White Stripes, they covered it. And also, of course, Miley Cyrus' version is really beautiful. Uh, but I just love the original, I love the arrangement and the guitar part. Classic timeless song with a lot of edgy and peculiar elements. Thanks for listening, guys. If you want some free ear training, check out learn.damberricuda.com slash practice. And you can also check out the show notes for that, as well as more info on my course, Unlock Your Musician's Ear, which can be found at learn.damberricuda.comslash unlock. Thanks a lot for listening for your support. See you in the next episode.