The BeyHive has been yeehaw-ing and whipping around their lassos all week in anticipation of Cowboy Carter, the second act of Beyoncé’s three-album trilogy. The country album finally dropped on Friday, and one particular song has captured listeners’ attention: “Jolene.” A cover of Dolly Parton’s 1973 hit, Beyoncé rewrites the lyrics, providing a modern flair to her version.
Parton makes her first appearance on Cowboy Carter in “Dolly P,” an interlude that sets the scene for Bey’s “Jolene.”
On the track, the country legend says, “Hey, Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminding me of someone I knew back when, except she has flaming locks of auburn hair, bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”
The interlude transitions effortlessly into “Jolene,” which shows Queen Bey staying true to the original song’s theme and musicality. She gets playful in the lyrics and warns her “Jolene” that she’s messing with the wrong B.
“I can easily understand why you’re attracted to my man/ But you don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else (You heard me),” she croons on the track, noting later, “I had to have this talk with you ’cause I hate to have to act the fool/ Your peace depends on how you move, Jolene.”
Parton teased Beyoncé’s take on the song on Wednesday night, sharing the album’s track list to her Instagram Stories.
“Play the original while you wait for @beyonce’s ‘Jolene,'” she wrote in the Story.
She followed that up with a post on Thursday of a throwback photo of herself.
“Just call me Dolly P,” she captioned the post.
“Jolene” is one of several covers on Cowboy Carter. Queen Bey, along with country music vocalists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, tackles The Beatles’ hit “Blackbird.” The moving cover pays homage to its original inspiration: the Little Rock Nine, The Guardian reported. Beyoncé also references other songs on the album, including the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,'” by Nancy Sinatra, and reportedly Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” on “II Most Wanted,” which features Miley Cyrus.
Check out the lyric video for “Jolene” below.