I was reading the Huffington Post (yeah I’m the kind of guy that reads HuffPo, got a problem with that?) and I came across a video of Dolly Parton singing Jolene. I’m not much of a country western music fan, in fact I loath pretty much all of it that wasn’t written and performed by The Man in Black, but this one is less distasteful than most.
Now I’ve got a little bit of a problem with the song. The singer, Dolly Parton, is pleading with a beautiful woman named Jolene. She’s afraid that Jolene will steal her man (I’ll be referring to him as Herman from this point on) and that she has no way to prevent it if that’s what Jolene really wants. My biggest problem is that Dolly here has some trust issues with Herman. Either she’s been hurt before or Herman is a big old cheating jerk and she’d be better off without him. I’m guessing it’s the latter as he cries Jolene’s name out in his sleep. I also took issue with the fact that Herman’s feelings on the matter were moot. He’s obviously an emotional child and gets distracted by the nearest shiny object/pair of boobies. It’s easy to think that this is Dolly’s opinion of all men and that annoys me. However there are more than enough examples of men behaving this way and she’s kind of justified. Later on though when I was looking for a cover for the song I came across an Estonian indie-rock band named Ewert and The Two Dragons. Their version is a fantastic response to the song. It’s from Herman’s point of view and instead of being a cad he’s showing himself to be a stand-up guy which is how every man should respond when they find themselves in this situation. Give it a listen and please please please let me know what you think in the comments.