DOLLY PARTON famously pleaded with Jolene, the woman in the song, not to steal her man ‘ just because you can’.
Hello Dolly: The country
star wows Glastonbury. Above, with
Carl in the early years. Right, friend
Judy Ogle
Jolene had ‘ beauty beyond compare’ and ‘ flaming locks of auburn hair
with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green’ — in short, a femme fatale of
the most dangerous kind, against whom even the ravishingly pretty Dolly
was unable to compete.
Dolly later explained that the inspiration for Jolene was a young woman
who worked as a teller at the local bank with whom her husband, Carl
Dean, had become infatuated.
Dolly could only watch, powerless, as Carl frequently popped down to the
bank for a glimpse of Jolene — leaving his wife to worry at home.
What a difference nearly 50 years of marriage makes. On stage at
Glastonbury on Sunday, Dolly talked again about Jolene and said that
when she sees her ageing, greying husband slumbering in his chair, she
often thinks how much she’d like to ring up Jolene and ask her if she
still wants to steal her husband.
Dolly, 68, was joking, of course (one assumes). But she owes Jolene
quite a debt, for not only did the latter restrain herself from running
off with Carl, she also provided inspiration for what is still Dolly’s
most popular song, proving more of a crowd-pleaser than I Will always
Love You and 9 to 5.
at Glastonbury, Dolly told the audience that she wondered where Jolene
was, because she would like to thank her for making her so rich (her
fortune is estimated at about £260 million).
But Jolene remains an enigmatic figure. Who is she, and where might she be now?
tracking her down wouldn’t be easy. Dolly wrote the song in 1973 and
never specified the bank where Jolene worked, although it was probably
in the nashville area, where Dolly and Carl have lived for most of their
married life.
Jolene isn’t her real name, either. It was the name of an eight-year-old
with ‘beautiful green eyes’ who once asked Dolly for her autograph.
recalling the ‘Jolene’ who tried to come between her and Carl, who then
ran an asphalt- laying company, Dolly said: ‘He just loved going to the
bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running
joke between us — when I was saying: “Hell, you’re spending a lot of
time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.” ’
Dolly’s husband, Carl, is almost as mysterious as Jolene. they met 50
years ago and have been married for 48 years but only photographed
together on three or four occasions — and one of those was their wedding
day in 1966.
this paucity of sightings has led to speculation that Carl, 72, doesn’t
exist and is about as real as Dolly’s surgically enhanced bust.
Yet it was reported a few months ago that Dolly and Carl were planning to renew their marriage vows on May 30 this year.
Yesterday, however, the singer’s publicist said he ‘didn’t know’ if the ceremony had taken place.
Indeed, over the years it has often been rumoured — and denied — that
Dolly is a lesbian and that her long-term lover is Judy Ogle, a
redhaired former schoolfriend who works as her personal assistant.
THe singer has always denied the claims about her and Judy. In a
newspaper interview last month, she quashed one rumour: that she was not
renewing her vows with Carl but ‘marrying’ Judy in a commitment
ceremony.
‘Let me tell you this right now,’ she said. ‘Judy and I are not lovers,
we have never been. they write these things in magazines, just like
yours, talking about how Judy and I are getting married and my husband’s
OK with it.
‘But if they really want the true story, it’s the most beautiful story
ever. It’s the story of true, true friendship, of two little girls
who’ve been together since third grade.
‘I’m very fortunate to have a friend like that, and I wish everyone else
did. But’s it’s always kind of embarrassing and it hurts your feelings
when people try to dirty up something that’s really so pretty.’
She told another interviewer: ‘It doesn’t upset me but it upsets and embarrasses Judy and her family.
‘I say to her: “Which would you prefer: being called an old maid or a lesbian?” and she says lesbian every time!’
Confusingly, there are also rumours that Dolly is mad about men and it
is has been claimed — and denied again — that her lovers have included
actors Sylvester Stallone and Burt reynolds.
Dolly says she and Carl laugh about it. ‘Sometimes he goes to the
grocery store and he sees a magazine with some story about me. He’ll
bring it home and say: “I see you’re having Burt reynolds’s baby again”.
‘He has seen so much of it over the years. He’s not jealous and I’m not
jealous of him. He knows I flirt. He flirts, too. Yes, it’s an open
relationship, but not sexually and I would kill him if I thought he was
doing that. He would shoot me, too. at the end of the day, we love each
other madly.’
Carl, with whom Dolly lives on their large estate outside nashville, in a
handsome 23-room property at the end of a long drive, has not
accompanied her on her UK tour. ‘He doesn’t like flying,’ she says, ‘and
he doesn’t like crowds.
‘Listen, he’s a homebody. He’s more than happy keeping the fields mowed, the barns painted and working on his farm equipment.’
the couple both love animals, and when they were younger kept horses, cattle and yard dogs.
Dolly’s Glastonbury performance was seen by 80,000 people and she
was widely agreed to be the star turn, despite claims that she mimed.
even the security guards did a special dance during her songs.
Yesterday, Dolly was resting before heading to nottingham to
perform at the Capital FM arena, the last concert in her UK tour.
at 68, it’s not quite right to say that she is enjoying a
renaissance because she has stayed at the top of her game for 40 years.
But Glastonbury was still a defining moment in an incredible career.
Dolly was the fourth of 12 children brought up by ‘dirt poor’
parents on a farm in Sevier County, tennessee. Her father, a tobacco
farmer, paid the doctor who helped to deliver her with a bag of oatmeal.
Her grandfather was a preacher, and Dolly’s earliest performances
were in church. as a child, she also sang on local radio and television.
Fifty years ago, aged 18, she took the bus 200 miles to nashville
to try her luck in the country music business. It is said that she met
Carl Dean outside a launderette the same day. Her talent was quickly
recognised and she became a star. Yet Dolly has spoken of the untoward
attention she received from music executives in the early days.
‘I never slept with anyone to get ahead,’ she said. ‘It didn’t
take long for them to realise I wasn’t there to sell my body, but
because my work was worthy.’
It certainly didn’t damage her career. She has sold more than 100
million albums, won eight Grammy awards and starred in several films,
including 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias.
From the start, she went for a look that she told the Glastonbury
audience was based on a hooker who used to hang around her home in
tennessee.
But the image is deceptively high-maintenance. as she once famously said: ‘It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.’
She continues to battle against any signs of ageing. ‘If I see
something saggin’, baggin’ or draggin’ I’ll have it nipped, tucked or
sucked!’ she told one interviewer.
NOWaDaYS she says she doesn’t go in for much surgery, but keeps up
the Botox and collagen injections. She is equally upfront about her use
of wigs and once said: ‘People ask how long it takes to do my hair. I
don’t know. I’m never there.’
In 2012, on the Graham norton Show, actress Jennifer Saunders
said: ‘I was in a restaurant with roseanne Barr. Dolly was there and
talking about tattoos. She winked at us and said “this will go no
further”, then undid her top and there were her t*** and she has the
most exquisite tattoos — angels and butterflies.’
Dolly looks terrific. But how does she look without wigs and make-up?
‘Well . . . hell. Like most women when they’re not done up.’
Yet Dolly is a contradiction. Behind the outward frivolity is a
woman of deep religious faith, who says her Christianity pulled her
through a dark time in the eighties when she had a partial hysterectomy
and realised she would never have the children she’d longed for.
‘Sometimes God just has to smack you down,’ she said recently.
Dolly’s day begins at 3am when she reads scriptures and meditates,
which, she says, ‘ helps me stay connected and anchored’.
Over the past few years, she has acquired new teenage fans, partly
on account of being Miley Cyrus’s godmother (she is a good friend of
Miley’s father, Billy ray Cyrus).
She owns a theme park, Dollywood, in tennessee, a water park and a
restaurant chain. She also co-owns a film and TV library.
She shows no sign of slowing down. ‘ Oh, I dream new dreams every day,’ she said last month.
‘I’m doing my life story as a musical and I’d like to see my life
story on screen. I’d like to do more movies. I want to have my own
cosmetics company, sell my own make-up, wigs, hair ornaments, jewellery.
I’d love to do a children’s show.’
Once a year, her husband drives to Dollywood and buys a ticket.
‘Because he just wants to meander around on his own and see what
we’ve done. He doesn’t want to be singled out and asked questions —
that’s not him.
‘that’s why we’ve been together for 50 years this month.’
‘You could have your choice of men but I could never love again.
He’s the only one for me, Jolene,’ Dolly wrote more than 40 years ago.
and despite the jokes, rumours and gossip, she clearly meant every word.
The border fence between Nogales, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico
Many of the recent arrivals are from further south in Central America
"I've sent a clear message to parents in
these countries not to put their kids through this," Mr Obama said of
the increased number of children arriving at the US border unaccompanied
Dhaka,30 June, Deily Newspaper :
Sunni insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) declared
themselves a caliphate and dropped ‘‘al-Sham’’ from their title,
according to a statement delivered by their spokesman. Abu Muhammad
al-Adnani said other jihadi factions — even those beyond Iraq and Syria —
were rendered ‘‘invalid.’’ He urged them to pledge allegiance to the
newly named ‘‘Islamic State.’’ ‘‘If you forsake the State or wage war
against it, you will not harm it. You will only harm yourselves,’’
al-Adnani said, according to the Search for International Terrorist
Entities (SITE) monitoring service. ‘‘Al-Sham’’ refers to the region
that includes Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories,
but removing the reference to the region widens the former al-Qaeda
affiliate’s scope, experts said. ‘‘After seizing control of multiple
territories in Syria and Iraq, ISIS feels this is a golden opportunity
to seize control of the helm of the global jihadi movement,’’ said
terrorism analyst, Laith Alkhouri.’’They are quite obviously elated with
their recent successes, and it has given them the confidence that they
can expand their campaign into the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and
beyond,’’ said Evan Kohlman, a terrorism consultant with Flashpoint
Partners and an NBC counter-terrorism analyst.
