Jolene

It’s a great name. Sounds a little Southern. “A modern creation, formed from the elements jo and lene” (according to behindthename.com, that is). I’m writing a post about this name because it has come to my attention that two artists, from different time periods and genres, have songs entitled “Jolene.” The interesting thing is that both of these songs are excellent. Really.

Mostly everyone (or at least mostly everyone I know) is familiar w/ Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” off the album Jolene. In this song, the fair-skinned, red-locked temptress Jolene is attempting to steal Dolly’s husband. That’s the gist. The song is a plea by Dolly to Jolene to not take her husband. A sampling:

“Your beauty is beyond compare,
with flaming locks of auburn hair,
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green.

He talks about you in his sleep
There’s nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene

And I can easily understand
How you could easily take my man
But you don’t know what he means to me, Jolene.”

It’s clear that Jolene is so alluring, that Dolly’s husband cannot resist her. Through her lyrics, Dolly does a great job of telling us about Jolene; though her appearance seems to be superior, I detect a subtext of financial superiority as well (as Dolly’s humble roots have been well documented).

Anyway, my point is, the name Jolene is repeated 26 times; plus it’s the name of the song and the album. When I think of the name Jolene, I do not, say think of Jolene P* from high school (who was quite popular and athletic, I believe). I think of this red-haired whore.

Ray LaMontagne, whom I have much less personal knowledge of, also has a song called “Jolene.” In this song, Ray laments about the loss of his gal, Jolene, due to his reluctance to get clean and sober. Example:

“Jolene
I ain’t about to go straight
It’s too late
I found myself face down in the ditch
Booze on my hair
Blood on my lips
A picture of you, holding a picture of me
in the pocket of my blue jeans
Still don’t know what love means.”

Sadly, it seems that Ray (or his narrator) is too far gone with his cocaine and alcohol addictions to stay with Jolene. She remains as a sad reminder of his previous life. Maybe Ray could have used a Jolene as memorable and alluring as Dolly’s to hold his attention away from his vices.

I’m not sure I have a point in comparing these two songs other than I find it interesting such a unique name inspired two very different, very intense, and well-crafted songs that are clearly poignant to their respective singer-songwriters.

If I meet a Jolene in the future, maybe there will be a sonic triptych.

*Since I initially posted this on myspace, Jolene P from high school messaged me to say that she had come across my blog post (nice privacy, myspace) after googling herself. She had no idea who I was, btw.