MINI: A Tribute to Dolly Parton

Following the passing of Dolly Parton, Christian and the team reflect on the life and legacy of one of music's most beloved stars, sharing memories of her remarkable career and Intern Pete's unforgettable interview with her.

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Speaker 3: Got anything good?

Speaker 4: Hey, this is the Christian O'Connell Show Podcast.

Speaker 2: Before we go anywhere into today's show, we have to

Speaker 2: talk about the one and only Dolly Parton. And Our intern, Pete,

Speaker 2: you may have done one of her last interviews.

Speaker 5: Yeah, three years ago. She was 77 at the time

Speaker 5: and she was doing a bit of press. She was

Speaker 5: nominated to the Hall of Fame for something. And honestly,

Speaker 5: I'm trying to track down the audience.

Speaker 6: Sorry.

Speaker 2: What do you think it might be? I mean, it's

Speaker 2: not family fortunes. Take a wild guess.

Speaker 6: She went in the brown load.

Speaker 5: Honestly, I really regret saying it like that because my

Speaker 5: sister called me at 4.02 this morning in tears.

Speaker 6: Dolly Parton was such a big part of our life

Speaker 6: as well.

Speaker 2: A lot of people are going to wake up this

Speaker 2: morning all over the world heartbroken.

Speaker 6: I know.

Speaker 1: It's so sad.

Speaker 2: It is sad news, but also that is, you know,

Speaker 2: to go at 80 after a life she had is

Speaker 2: an extraordinary life to celebrate.

Speaker 1: I mean, one of 12 kids.

Speaker 2: In real poverty, a dad, Robert, who couldn't read, And

Speaker 2: she was inspired by his story to set up that

Speaker 2: imagination library, which gives kids free books up until the

Speaker 2: age of five, a free.

Speaker 1: Book every month. Incredible.

Speaker 2: To over 300 million books she's given to kids around

Speaker 2: the world. And then there's the music, the queen of

Speaker 2: country music.

Speaker 6: It's incredible.

Speaker 2: Do you know, by the way, years ago I met

Speaker 2: her at a charity thing, I don't know, about 12

Speaker 2: years ago, and just incredible music. You talk about presence

Speaker 2: and charisma, just otherworldly. She wrote, Jolene, and I would

Speaker 2: always love you in the same day. When people rave

Speaker 2: about the output of the Beatles, which is incredible. Dolly

Speaker 2: Parton wrote two of the greatest songs ever in the

Speaker 2: same day.

Speaker 1: Has any songwriter ever had a more productive day?

Speaker 6: That's got to be the best.

Speaker 2: None of us will ever have a more productive day

Speaker 2: in our lives than Dolly Parton sitting down to write Jolene,

Speaker 2: which would have been enough to retire for the rest

Speaker 2: of her life and never write another song.

Speaker 1: And then I Will Always Love You.

Speaker 2: And because she owned everything she ever wrote, she made

Speaker 2: about 15 to 20 million when Whitney Houston made the

Speaker 2: song bigger than she ever could.

Speaker 1: Right. Yeah. In 1974, Elvis wanted one of her songs.

Speaker 2: Colonel Tom Parker wanted 50% of the publishing royalties.

Speaker 1: She turned down The King. Legend. Just an incredible life.

Speaker 1: What was she like, Pete?

Speaker 5: Oh, look, honestly, it was over Zoom and just even

Speaker 5: that in itself to sit one-on-one with her. Obviously, you

Speaker 5: meeting her is crazy, but then I just think this opportunity,

Speaker 5: I got about 10 minutes with her and she just, Oh, you're.

Speaker 1: Very, very lucky.

Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if we're over Zoom, mate. You got

Speaker 2: to chat to one of the greats.

Speaker 6: Yeah, and do you know what? I was probably playing..

Speaker 1: Just tell me, by the way, what was her Zoom

Speaker 1: technique like?

Speaker 2: Did you have to tell her to unmute the mic

Speaker 2: or actually probably her telling you to do that?

Speaker 6: It was, you know what?

Speaker 1: I can only see your forehead in turn, Pete. How

Speaker 1: old is his intern, by the way? It's a grown-ass man.

Speaker 6: Yeah, I think she was questioning that as well, to

Speaker 6: be fair.

Speaker 5: She had good control. I think a lot of people

Speaker 5: around her making sure it was okay, but she just gave...

Speaker 5: Didn't matter who you were, she gave someone the time

Speaker 5: of day, even though I was probably being a bit

Speaker 5: of a buffoon idiot as well, you know, as I

Speaker 5: did as Interbeat. But she just allowed me to sort

Speaker 5: of have the moment with her. And I was telling

Speaker 5: her about, I think it was my mum, who was

Speaker 5: a big fan of the movie Steel Magnolias.

Speaker 6: And she just loved hearing stories like that.

Speaker 5: And I got her to do a few station IDs,

Speaker 5: which was like, She would have loved that.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that is just demeaning.

Speaker 6: One of the great..

Speaker 2: I thought you'd share some great stories rather than a

Speaker 2: lot of grubby old show you used to work on.

Speaker 1: Hey, Dolly, this is all great. Let's make it about Carl.

Speaker 1: Can you say, hi, this is Kiss. The golden microphone

Speaker 1: was on.

Speaker 6: I feel like I'm not doing tribute to her at

Speaker 6: all this morning.

Speaker 1: No, no, at all.

Speaker 2: At first you were confused about what she was inducted

Speaker 2: to the Hall of Fame for. This might be the

Speaker 2: worst words that are said about Dolly Parton.

Speaker 6: Oh, please. No, I'm watching it on Sunrise and then

Speaker 6: left screen here.

Speaker 1: I think maybe we'll leave you to watch it on Sunrise.

Speaker 1: Maybe get up to speed with who Dolly Parton was. No, no, no.

Speaker 6: I'm a big fan.

Speaker 2: Well, Intern Pete dives onto Dolly Parton's Wikipedia page.

Speaker 6: Yep. She's a singer.

Speaker 1: Huge news.

Speaker 7: Huge.

Speaker 1: Maybe lead with that in the news, Patsy. Dolly Parton

Speaker 1: was a singer. Confirm this today.

Speaker 2: Oh, no. Anyway, let's go to an actual fan now. Patsy,

Speaker 2: tell us about Dolly Parton and what she meant to you.

Speaker 8: Dolly was the original trailblazer. Dolly did so much for

Speaker 8: women and the women's movement and unapologetically did just herself.

Speaker 8: I remember, I think it was an ABC America interview

Speaker 8: back in the 70s, and it was a woman, mind you.

Speaker 8: I think it was Barbara Walters interviewing her and basically saying,

Speaker 8: why do you kind of make yourself up like you do?

Speaker 8: Why do you wear wigs? Why do you dress like

Speaker 8: you do? Basically calling her a bit of a drag queen.

Speaker 8: And Dolly said, because I like it, I don't do

Speaker 8: this for anyone else.

Speaker 6: This is for me.

Speaker 8: She was just so authentic and never made excuses for,

Speaker 8: you know, didn't want to please anyone else. She was

Speaker 8: just pleasing herself and running her own race. And I

Speaker 8: loved her for that. And 9 to 5 was all

Speaker 8: about women going out into the workforce and, you know,

Speaker 8: finding their own way and not being stuck at home.

Speaker 8: Her story is just so amazing. Growing up in a

Speaker 8: two-room house with so many children and they were so poor.

Speaker 8: And look at what she managed to do. And I

Speaker 8: think she was just, she was such, I don't know,

Speaker 8: a beacon of light. She was always happy. She was

Speaker 8: always joyful. The songs were joyful. I thought she was

Speaker 8: just amazing and just a trailblazer. And what a celebration.

Speaker 8: I didn't feel so much sadness when I woke up

Speaker 8: this morning to the news. I actually felt warm inside

Speaker 8: because of what she's brought to the world. There'll never

Speaker 8: be another Dolly. And, you know, apparently they've put away

Speaker 8: or she had put away in a vault a secret

Speaker 8: song that will be released in about 2045. She was

Speaker 8: on Jimmy Fallon.

Speaker 1: You're kidding.

Speaker 8: Yeah, a couple of years back. And she said, I've

Speaker 8: done a secret song. I don't know what they'll do

Speaker 8: with it, but you'll all hear it in 2045.

Speaker 6: Wow.

Speaker 1: I'm so annoyed we've got to wait until 2045.

Speaker 4: We're going to break into that vault.

Speaker 1: People only just realised who she was by then.

Speaker 8: Well, hopefully they will.

Speaker 6: A legacy all the way on.

Speaker 1: Patsy, what beautiful words you said, honestly.

Speaker 8: I just adore her.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think what's going to happen is, I

Speaker 2: imagine over the next couple of days, next couple of weeks,

Speaker 2: the whole world is going to be reminded about the

Speaker 2: impact and who she really was. Not just this kind

Speaker 2: of country and western sort of caricature, but just what,

Speaker 2: before there was Taylor Swift owning all her copyright, she

Speaker 2: was doing it when women were told to be a

Speaker 2: certain way, and to look a certain way as well,

Speaker 2: which is what you just spoke to about the Bravo

Speaker 2: Waters interview as well, and how hard it would have

Speaker 2: been to a young woman desperately trying to make it

Speaker 2: in showbiz and music as well in a male-dominated industry

Speaker 2: to hang on to her you-ness. It's something incredible for

Speaker 2: young women around the world to be inspired.

Speaker 1: By that, I think.

Speaker 5: Yep.

Speaker 8: We always watch Dolly or listen to Dolly. I've got

Speaker 8: a 15-year-old daughter. I have very intentionally done that because

Speaker 8: Dolly was doing it before everyone else was. And You know,

Speaker 8: she lost her husband, Carl, just 18 months ago.

Speaker 1: My God, they were married for like 60 odd years.

Speaker 6: I know, forever.

Speaker 8: You know, apparently he never went to any of her concerts.

Speaker 8: She was on record as saying, what I did for

Speaker 8: my professional life was very different to my private life.

Speaker 8: She liked to keep them both very separate. And he

Speaker 8: never ever saw her.

Speaker 1: That's rare these days.

Speaker 3: Yeah, before life.

Speaker 1: We see too much.

Speaker 2: It all just bleeds, doesn't it?

Speaker 1: No. It's constantly, everything's content.

Speaker 7: Yeah.

Speaker 2: What's that smug thing on Netflix at the moment where,

Speaker 2: you were raving about it and I gave up watching

Speaker 2: after 30 seconds. Very rich, successful people gloating about their

Speaker 2: big mansions.

Speaker 1: Oh, why didn't you come in? I'm like, do you

Speaker 1: know what? Good for you, but keep it to yourself.

Speaker 8: Yes.

Speaker 1: No, not humble at all. But no, what a true

Speaker 1: one-off she was, Patsy.

Speaker 4: Yeah, I loved her.

Speaker 8: And that story about Elvis, how funny is that?

Speaker 1: How incredible.

Speaker 8: The king of rock and roll.

Speaker 1: There was no one bigger. 1974, she says no. She

Speaker 1: turns the king down.

Speaker 6: She turns the king down. She had some balls.

Speaker 1: That's a power ball to move that. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: It is incredible.

Speaker 2: I reckon there'd be, I reckon this couple of years,

Speaker 2: there'd be the definitive iconic real story of her life

Speaker 2: yeah what a great life story and as you as

Speaker 2: you read back into it reminded of it today it's

Speaker 2: a life to celebrate living to 80 and living that

Speaker 2: well not just that she you know made music that

Speaker 2: cheered millions of people up as well but also the

Speaker 2: imagination library giving books to young kids that might not

Speaker 2: have been their families well enough to afford them over

Speaker 2: 300 million books giving back as well and helping other

Speaker 2: other kids to dream big as well like she was

Speaker 2: allowed to as well is an incredible story In about

Speaker 2: half an hour's time, I'm going to play Jolene. And

Speaker 2: a lot of people always think, because it sounds like

Speaker 2: a song that could have been in a Tarantino movie.

Speaker 1: No, it sounds sinister. But actually, it's a very innocent song.

Speaker 2: It's actually one of the most innocent love songs, but

Speaker 2: it doesn't play like that or feel like it. Jolene

Speaker 2: was just written about, there was this, I think in

Speaker 2: most relationships, when you've been married a long time, there's

Speaker 2: always someone that has an affection. Not a serious one,

Speaker 2: but a kind of affection for your partner. Jolene was

Speaker 2: about this bank teller who fancied, Dolly's husband called Carl.

Speaker 2: And I think she knew that he enjoyed the flirtatious

Speaker 2: behavior every time they were going down to the bank.

Speaker 1: Jolene is about her. I didn't know that.

Speaker 2: It's just about that. And Dolly knew and it was okay.

Speaker 2: She knew that Carl enjoyed a bit of flirtatious behavior

Speaker 2: and stuff at the local bank.

Speaker 1: That's what it's about. It sounds like this menacing brooding song.

Speaker 1: Almost Dolly has done away with her. Where is Jolene, Dolly?

Speaker 1: Is that in the vault as well?

Speaker 2: I'm going to play you what's called an isolated vocal.

Speaker 2: It's when you strip back all the music and it's

Speaker 2: just a raw, naked vocal. And you take all the

Speaker 2: music and the instrumentation, all the producing away. I actually

Speaker 2: think what remains is the power of the human voice

Speaker 2: and more importantly, Dolly's voice.

Speaker 1: Turn this up. How great was she?

Speaker 3: Your beauty is beyond compare With flaming locks of auburn

Speaker 3: hair With ivory.

Speaker 7: Skin and eyes of emerald green.

Speaker 3: Your smile is like a breath of spring Your voice

Speaker 3: is soft like summer rain And I cannot.

Speaker 7: Compete with you, Jolene Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.

Speaker 3: I'm begging of you, please don't take my man.

Speaker 7: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.

Speaker 3: Please don't take him just because you can.

Speaker 2: Oh, we've just gone through the vaults and these are

Speaker 2: not nice radio vaults. So, You're waking up to, it

Speaker 2: is sad news, but it's also a life well lived.

Speaker 2: The one and only Dolly Parton has passed away. And

Speaker 2: just an extraordinary, extraordinary life. And intern Pete, now on

Speaker 2: this show, has been lucky enough to.

Speaker 1: Actually interview her.

Speaker 2: Which is, you know, what a great thing to actually

Speaker 2: have said that you've met Dolly Parton and got some

Speaker 2: time with her.

Speaker 6: Incredible experience. And just, you know, the aura of the

Speaker 6: woman that she was.

Speaker 5: And I really mean that because she is just an amazing,

Speaker 5: she had such an impact. And for me, it was, yeah,

Speaker 5: Steel McNullis, the movie, like one of the most iconic

Speaker 5: movies of all time.

Speaker 2: I mean, she did sell over 100 million albums, but

Speaker 2: you still want to keep going back to Steel Magnolias.

Speaker 2: It feels like the only bit of Wikipedia you've got

Speaker 2: to is Steel Magnolias and you haven't scrolled down yet

Speaker 2: or gone to the second page.

Speaker 6: Can I just share this real story?

Speaker 5: And I want to share it about my mother, really,

Speaker 5: because Sanity Music had a special on where you could

Speaker 5: buy three DVDs for $ 20. And I remember my mum

Speaker 5: calling me.

Speaker 1: She's like, guess what?

Speaker 6: You can get three DVDs for 20 bucks. I was like, oh,

Speaker 6: that's great. What did you get? She goes, I got

Speaker 6: three copies of Steel McNally. It's the movie because she

Speaker 6: just loved Dolly Parton so much. I said, what do

Speaker 6: you need three copies for? She said, well, in case

Speaker 6: I wear out one, I've got a second and then

Speaker 6: I've got a third.

Speaker 5: She just loved Dolly Parton so much in that movie.

Speaker 5: And of course, everything that she did, she just brought

Speaker 5: so much joy, right? And then I got this chance

Speaker 5: to interview and I don't know.

Speaker 1: I've got some of the audio. I don't know what

Speaker 1: you've found. All right. This is something. Have a listen

Speaker 1: to this then. This is a bit here where rudely

Speaker 1: used as demand to know her age.

Speaker 5: This is your 49th studio album and there is no

Speaker 5: retiring for Dolly.

Speaker 4: Parton, correct?

Speaker 7: That's correct. No retiring.

Speaker 1: I'll just have to fall dead on the spot.

Speaker 7: But I'll be going for as long as I can.

Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. I mean, how old are you? Sorry,

Speaker 4: I didn't catch how old you were, Dolly. Oh, I'm 77.

Speaker 4: You're actually just so rude.

Speaker 6: Just look it up, mate.

Speaker 1: You get 10 or 15 minutes. There's so much to

Speaker 1: talk to about going, how old are you? You're right.

Speaker 1: It's a cursory Google search to find that out.

Speaker 6: I feel terrible.

Speaker 1: It gets better.

Speaker 5: Congratulations to your induction of the Hall of Fame as well, Dolly.

Speaker 4: You must be super proud of that.

Speaker 6: Yeah, I am proud of that.

Speaker 3: I wasn't expecting that, and I didn't think I had

Speaker 3: deserved it, but they convinced me that I did, so.

Speaker 4: That's why I did the rock album. That's so good.

Speaker 1: To prove that I did.

Speaker 4: Sorry, I catch you off there, Dolly. I'm very annoying.

Speaker 4: I apologise.

Speaker 6: Oh, listen. Patsy, I can see your face. I know

Speaker 6: you're disgusted.

Speaker 1: I just wish Patsy got that time.

Speaker 6: Oh, God, I would have loved to have interviewed her.

Speaker 1: I would love to have heard that. That would have

Speaker 1: been some chat. Guys, there's more.

Speaker 6: Oh, what?

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Now, look.

Speaker 4: Could I at least do the start of Jolene with

Speaker 4: you together? Just a little bit. I know we're on Skype.

Speaker 2: How many coffees did you have before this?

Speaker 6: I was very hard down.

Speaker 2: Twitchy kind of like sequined jackets or game show host.

Speaker 5: I reckon I honestly, I reckon I had about five

Speaker 5: minutes notice said you're interviewing Dolly Parton.

Speaker 6: Get out of it. This is, oh what?

Speaker 1: And then you found the eye dents all ready to go.

Speaker 1: No way you got five minutes. I smell BS already.

Speaker 1: Already you're spilling a narrative here. I just found out,

Speaker 1: you know. Anyway, let's have a listen to this.

Speaker 4: Now look. Would I at least do the start of

Speaker 4: Jolene with you together? Just a little bit. I know

Speaker 4: we're on Skype. That's all I'm asking if that's okay.

Speaker 4: What are we doing? Oh, can I just sing Jolene

Speaker 4: with you?

Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 4: You have such an accent, you know.

Speaker 6: You're very down under.

Speaker 3: You want to do it?

Speaker 4: Is that okay?

Speaker 8: Jolene.

Speaker 4: Yeah, okay. Jolene, Jolene. I've got the music. I've got

Speaker 4: the music.

Speaker 2: Hang on.

Speaker 4: Okay, we'll go again. Jolene, Jolene.

Speaker 2: Apparently you only have five minutes notice.

Speaker 4: Oh my God, I can't sing Jolene. It's very embarrassing.

Speaker 7: Is it the delay or is it just that you

Speaker 7: can't sing a lick?

Speaker 1: The last line goes to Donny. All right, we'll leave

Speaker 1: it there.

Speaker 4: The Christian O'Connell Show.

Speaker 1: Go on.

Speaker 4: Podcast.