In her 80 years of life producing music and performing around the world, Dolly Parton left behind a lyrical legacy of kindness, resilience, and womanhood. She never stopped doing what she loved, a living embodiment of the free spirit until the day she died.
When I saw her most recently at the Dallas Cowboys halftime show a couple years back, strutting around a massive star in the center of the stadium and singing newly released covers of iconic rock anthems, I wondered in awe how she could just keep growing into anything she wanted to be. Country singer, feminist fighter, philanthropist, and now a rockstar?
Her decades-long and rich catalogue of music leaves us with tons of stories and important themes to pore over. This isn’t a list of her top hits, and yes, I left many off. Instead, this is a selection of songs that I find the most personally meaningful and representative of the impact Dolly wanted to leave on the world. Let us know in the comments which Dolly Parton songs you’d add to your best hits playlist!
Wildflowers
“Wildflowers” is one of my personal favorite tracks by Dolly Parton, balancing softness and femininity alongside the resilience of a free-spirit. As someone who loves to travel and spends a lot of time on the road for my job, the delicate melody moves me forward “fearing not where I’d go.” Dolly affirms that you can follow your dreams and thrive anywhere you’re planted.
Light of a Clear Blue Morning
“Light of a Clear Blue Morning” competes with “Wildflowers” for my top spot on the list. There’s perhaps no better Dolly song for anyone going through a difficult chapter. Written during a particularly challenging period in her life, the song looks toward a brighter future with optimism and faith. The verse builds slowly into a soulful chorus, which gains more and more energy until you’re bursting with joy and dance by the end! Dolly’s message of renewal makes it one of her most uplifting recordings.
The Bridge
The tantalizing melody of “The Bridge” unwinds the story of a young romance that ends abruptly in heartbreak and suicide. It’s one of Dolly’s darkest tracks, but tells an important story of the unequal circumstances women face when love leads to pregnancy outside the bounds of marriage. Released in 1968, it was considered taboo for the time.
The song came out on her album Just Because I’m A Woman, where she defines one critical point: “My mistakes are no worse than yours just because I’m a woman.” The album also includes a passionate defense of her fellow woman in “Baby Sister,” singing “I curse the man that made you what you are today. I hope he dies a thousand times a thousand ways.” Damn Dolly!
9 to 5
I know this one’s an obvious pick, but it’s simply impossible to make a list of Dolly Parton songs without it. You can sing along with it whether you’re happy or angry! Written for the 1980 film 9 to 5, the song became an anthem for working women everywhere. With its instantly recognizable melody and lyrics about the frustrations of punching a clock, Dolly turned workplace inequality into a wildly catchy country-pop hit. More than four decades later, “9 to 5” still feels remarkably relevant and irresistibly fun.
Dumb Blonde
Long before “9 to 5,” Dolly was making it clear that she wasn’t interested in being underestimated. Her 1967 debut single, “Dumb Blonde,” plays with the stereotype of the naive blonde woman while turning the joke back on the person who underestimated her. It’s an early glimpse of the sharp wit and independence that would become hallmarks of her career.
The single later became the opening track on her debut album Hello, It’s Dolly, which includes other songs where she calls out the unfair treatment she receives from men, like in “Your Ole Handy Man” and “The Giving and the Taking.”
In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)
The title track of this album cuts through the nostalgia that people often have for the so-called “good old days” by pointing out how bad many people actually had it. Dolly swears that no amount of money or success could ever make her forget how she went hungry and saw people suffering without the proper resources to survive.
The last song on this album is a cover of a song called “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.” originally by Tammy Wynette, a wry tune about hiding your pending divorce from your child. It’s a strangely sorrowful and funny track all at once, but even more controversial when you consider that no-fault divorce wasn’t even legal in most states when it was released in 1969.
Travelin’ Thru
Written for the 2005 film Transamerica, “Travelin’ Thru” is one of Dolly’s most compassionate songs. Its message of accepting people as they are fits naturally with the empathy that runs through so much of her music. Dolly has always had a knack for making room for outsiders, dreamers, and people trying to find their way.
World on Fire
Dolly proved she could still reinvent herself decades into her career with “World on Fire” from her 2023 album Rockstar. The song is Dolly at her angriest and most direct, taking aim at the division, greed, and chaos of modern life. Dolly has never been one to stake out a political position in support of one side or the other, and this track maintains her defiance of the political system as a whole.
Dolly calls out “greedy politicians present and past” who “wouldn’t know the truth if it bit’em in the ass.” She calls for people to rise above the hate and reaffirms something she has always stood for: uniting people through kindness.
