‘I Remember’: Dolly Parton’s anthem about “trying to survive”
It’s difficult to imagine anyone more accustomed to the art of storytelling than Dolly Parton. Having been in the business for over five decades, Parton has lived, seen, and sung through it all, overcoming some of the most unthinkable challenges in music history. Beyond her country roots, she has also broken new ground in other territories, creating a sound and reputation that truly lives up to the term timeless.
Aside from her obvious musical excellence, Parton has also thrived on having the one thing that seems unique in today’s music industry—an open heart. As a family-oriented figure with a natural inclination towards nurture, in whatever form that may manifest itself, Parton has always understood the value in writing from the soul, resulting in poetic lyricism that still resonates today.
While countless songs in her discography epitomise her penchant for heartfelt storytelling, from ‘Coat of Many Colors’ to ‘I Will Always Love You’, Parton has always exercised a delicate balance between openness and privacy, acknowledging the important space that lurks between her own personal experience and ambiguity. In other words, she will always remain authentic in her writing but respect those who interpret her music in different ways.
She has maintained this level of respect and dignity even through her most challenging years, like in the 1970s, when her peers, the media, and even certain facets of her audiences found any opportunity to reduce her artistry to her appearance. However, Parton has always responded to such degrading quips with her views on individuality, knowing that any attempt to dismantle her position ahead of her contemporaries stems from a place of bitterness or a fascination with fallen stars.
“I just kind of take some pride in that I’m the tabloid queen,” she once said, owning the parts of herself that aren’t always so readily understood by outsiders, with the kind of deliberate down-to-earth demeanour that could only exist within someone who has come from humble beginnings. And she did. Many of Parton’s songs reflect her upbringing in Tennessee, with a big family that didn’t have much of anything except love for one another.
One such song inspired by this crucial chapter in her life was ‘I Remember’, a heartfelt tune channelling her childhood memories and the love she remembers between her mother and father. “‘I Remember’ pretty much tells its own story,” she wrote in her book, Songteller. “It’s just about the love that our parents had. It’s never easy, no matter where you grow up.”
She added: “But to really manoeuvre that brood of kids, in that part of the world, with no real money coming in, just trying to survive without dying in the winter of pneumonia or worse, it’s a lot to think about, a lot to write about, a lot to be grateful for. I think about my mom and dad all the time.”
Parton would encounter several setbacks in her life and career, but the simplicity of taking a moment to remember and appreciate the “meadows and fields of golden wheat” and the “home-made toys that Daddy used to make” no doubt helped her remain in her own perfect bubble of grounding and inspiration, knowing that, anything she received and achieved came from very simple beginnings in the Smoky Mountains.
