Dolly Parton Reacts to Beyoncé Changing ‘Jolene’ Lyrics

Beyoncé included a cover of Dolly Parton’s iconic song, “Jolene,” on her 2024 album “Cowboy Carter” and Parton shared her opinion about the rendition. Read on to find out what she said.

Beyoncé Changed Several Lyrics on “Jolene” Cover

The “Single Ladies” songstress switched up the words on her cover of Parton’s legendary hit about competing with another woman.

Where Parton’s original version says, “Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair,” Beyoncé’s effort says, “You’re beautiful beyond compare, takes more than beauty and seductive stares.”

The mother of three showed great creativity in her interpretation of the song, reinventing almost every line. In another example, she replaced the words “I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man” to “I’m warning you, woman, find you your own man.”

She also implored the imagined subject of the song to “shoot your shot with someone else” and declared “there’s a thousand girls in every room that act as desperate as you do.”

Parton didn’t seem to mind the lyric-switch up. Based on comments she made to People, the “Coat of Many Colors” crooner warmly embraced Beyoncé’s version.

A June 1, 2025 story by the magazine reports Parton called herself a “huge fan” of Beyoncé. “Everybody loves her,” the country queen declared before going on to say, “I think she’s a magnificent artist.” Parton also praised Queen Bey for being a prolific dancer in addition to her singing.

Addressing the lyric changes, Parton said, “I was just honored that she, of course, did a completely different take on ‘Jolene’ than than my version of it.” She called the 43-year-old’s version a declaration of “Well, you’re not getting him” while her own version had more of a begging tone.

Why Dolly Parton Banned Elvis From Covering Her Song

While Parton was thrilled to have Beyoncé cover her spirited ballad, she blocked another music icon from covering one of her tunes.

After Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” became a country hit in 1974, the “Jailhouse Rock” singer wanted to cover it, and the recording was set to go ahead until one major roadblock came up.

In an AXS TV interview, Parton explained, “It’s no fault of Elvis. Elvis was ready to record it.” However, she said Presley’s manager, Tom Parker, called her the day before the session was to take place and advised her, “You do know that Elvis don’t record anything that he don’t publish, or at least get half the publishing on.” She went on, “He would have at least half the rights of the publishing to the song, and I said ‘I can’t do that.'”

Parton said she turned the proposal down, telling Presley’s manager, “This song’s already been a hit for me. Obviously this is gonna be one of my most important copyrights, and I can’t give you half the publishing.”