There’s no question that Dolly Parton is one of the most beloved singers in country music history, and with good reason. Not only is she an amazingly talented musician, she’s a ridiculously cool person, too, and she’s been finding ways to empower women for over half a century.
All the way back in the ’60s, for example, Parton wrote a hit song inspired by an argument she had with her husband as a newlywed. As she told Rolling Stone in a 2003 interview, Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, had a very sexist reaction when he discovered he wasn’t the first person she ever slept with.
“That song was based on a true story,” she said. “My husband doesn’t particularly like for me to tell this, but he’s old enough now, so he don’t really give a big s—t.”
“See, I had had sex before we met, but I hadn’t mentioned it, and he hadn’t asked,” Parton explained. “We were married for eight months, happy as we could be, and all of a sudden he decides to ask. I told him the truth, and it broke his heart. He could not get over that for the longest time. I thought, ‘Well, my goodness, what’s the big damn deal?’”
Released as the title track on Parton’s 1968 album, Just Because I’m a Woman, the song’s lyrics are a call for equality:
“I can see you’re disappointed by the way you look at me / And I’m sorry that I’m not the woman you thought I’d be / Yes, I’ve made mistakes, but listen and understand / My mistakes are no worse than yours just because I’m a woman”
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At the time, the song’s sentiment was such a radical sentiment that some radio stations in the U.S. actually refused to play it, though it did go to #1 in South Africa.
“I had a lot of fans in South Africa!” Parton said. “All those oppressed women! I found that so amusing, because somebody said, ‘Hey, my mistakes are no worse than yours, just because I’m a woman.’”
Years later, Parton ran into similar problems with 1991’s “The Eagle When She Flies.”
“Lots of DJs wouldn’t play ‘The Eagle When She Flies,’ because they thought it was such a women’s-lib song,” she recalled.
Thankfully, Parton has never listened to her haters…and never will.
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