The first song Dolly Parton obsessed over: “I couldn’t get enough”
Dolly Parton didn’t grow up surrounded by luxuries in a traditional sense, but she was in a household full of love, which was soundtracked by glorious music.
Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, was the main instigator for her daughter becoming a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Entertainment in their home would come from the matriarch of the household, thrilling her dozen children with traditional folk songs that had been passed down through generations.
As a child, Parton was regularly performing before releasing her debut single and making her first performance at the Grand Ole Opry at only 13. At this tender age, she was already rubbing shoulders with the likes of Johnny Cash, as well as learning from the great and good of the country movement.
While her love of folk and country was instilled into Parton’s DNA for as long as she’s been able to walk, the singer-songwriter also found The Beatles to be an irresistible force that opened her eyes to a whole new brand of music.
Despite only being a smattering of years younger than The Beatles when Beatlemania exploded, they were unquestionably the band of her generation. Tennessee and Liverpool were continents apart, but Parton instantly connected to the Fab Four following the release of their hit single, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.
‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was the song responsible for America waking up to The Beatles’ brilliance. It was their first of many number ones in the US, as the country, including Parton, found themselves caught up in music’s most exciting act of an era.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Parton revealed ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ that she was obsessed over. She reflected on the grip it had over her, noting, “I loved all kinds of songs, and I grew up singin’ all sorts of songs, but the first time I ever remember totally being jarred and feelin’ all kinds of emotions was when that song came out. I couldn’t get enough of it.”
Casting her mind back to her 18-year-old self, Parton remembered: “This girlfriend of ours had an old trap car, so we used to ride around — she was a little older than us. I just remember us hearing that on the radio any time we had a chance — because they played it night and day when the Beatles first came on the scene.”
While she’s no longer a teenager with her ear glued to the radio in the hopes of hearing ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, Parton’s love of the Fab Four remains as intoxicating as ever.
The death of John Lennon was devastating for Parton, like millions of others who he had touched wth his work. “Everyone was so heartbroken,” Parton later told Today. “Like all young teenage girls back then, I fell in love with the Beatles. Back there in the Smoky Mountains, it was like something had been dropped from outer space.”
Parton has also paid tribute to the legendary Liverpudlian band by covering their work throughout her career. On Parton’s 1979 release, Great Balls of Fire, she took on ‘Help!’ but made it her own by adding a healthy dosage of bluegrass to the song’s recipe. A few years later, Parton took on Lennon’s signature single, ‘Imagine’, with a Tennessee twist.
Then, in 2023, Parton got as close as possible to recreating The Beatles when she reunited Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to perform on her cover of ‘Let It Be’. The fact that both surviving members of the Fab Four were willing to come together to give Parton’s version of the classic track is the biggest compliment that she could have received. It also represented a full-circle moment as she became the honorary singer for the band that changed her life.
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