The View co-host Joy Behar says she likes Beyoncé’s reworked cover of Jolene better because the Dolly Parton classic is ‘anti-feminist.’
Behar, though still enjoying the 1973 original, took issue with Parton’s character begging an attractive younger woman in the song not to take her man.
The central theme of the triple-platinum hit is that Jolene could easily steal him, and his partner asks her not to, out of the goodness of her heart.
Beyoncé’s version instead has the woman straight-up threatening Jolene not to go after him – or else.
‘I like the subject of Beyoncé taking over the lyrics. I just think that the original thing with Dolly Parton is so, like, anti-feminist, worrying about some good-looking woman taking your man,’ Behar told ABC News’ Behind the Table podcast.
The View co-host Joy Behar says she likes Beyoncé’s reworked cover of Jolene better because the Dolly Parton classic is ‘anti-feminist’
Beyoncé’s version instead has the woman straight-up threatening Jolene not to go after him – or else
‘If it’s so easy to take your man, then take him! Beyoncé says, “If you take my man, you’re gonna be in a lot of trouble,” and I say, “Go ahead, take my man, take him!”‘
Behar, 81, insisted she considered music legend Parton, 78, a feminist and ‘the best,’ and her criticism was only with the song Jolene.
Beyoncé’s cover of Jolene appeared on her new album Cowboy Carter, her first foray into country music, that was released on Saturday.
She replaced the line ‘I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man,’ with a menacing, ‘I’m warnin’ you, don’t come for my man… Don’t take the chance because you think you can’.
Similarly, the pleading last line where Jolene is told ‘my happiness depends on you’ and whether she pursues the spoken-for man.
Instead, Jolene is warned: ‘You don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else. You heard me.’
Parton herself gave Beyoncé’s take enthusiastic support after hearing it for the first time on the day of its release.
‘Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl trouble and she deserves it,’ Parton wrote online.
The central theme of Dolly Parton’s triple-platinum 1973 hit is that Jolene could easily steal him, and his partner asks her not to, out of the goodness of her heart
Beyoncé’s cover of Jolene appeared on her new album Cowboy Carter, her first foray into country music, that was released on Saturday
There were other major changes to the lyrics that make the song less of a humble pleading for mercy and more of a dressing down for the titular character.
‘You’re beautiful beyond compare/Takes more than beauty and seductive stares/To come between a family and a happy man,’ one altered lines goes.
‘Jolene I’m a woman too/The games you are playing are nothing new/So you don’t want no heat with me, Jolene.’
As the star transitioned into the chorus once again, the lyrics also included: ‘I’m warning you woman, find you your own man/Jolene, I know I’m a queen, Jolene/I’m still a Creole banjee b***h from Louisiana (Don’t try me).’
Toward the end of the second verse, Beyoncé added lyrics to show that she had the confidence her man would stay by her side.
‘Good deeds roll in like tumbling weeds/I sleep good happy, cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds/I know my man’s gon’ stand by me breathing in my gentle breeze.’
The cover concluded with a bridge as the songstress was joined by a choir as they belted out: ‘I crossed those valleys, highs and lows and everything between/Good deeds roll in like tumbling weeds.’
Beyoncé then briefly sang in the perspective of her man and sang, ‘I’ma stand by her/She gon’ stand by me/Jolene I’ma stand by him/He gon’ stand by me Jolene.’
Beyoncé made other major changes to the lyrics that make the song less of a humble pleading for mercy and more of a dressing down for the titular character
Parton herself gave Beyoncé’s take enthusiastic support after hearing it for the first time on the day of its release
Parton also appeared on Beyoncé’s album with a 20-second voice interlude that leads into the Jolene cover, saying, ‘Hey, Miss Honey Bey, it’s Dolly P.’
‘You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair,’ she added, subtly referencing to Beyoncé’s ‘Becky’ from her Lemonade album era.
‘Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color. But it hurts just the same.’
Parton earlier hinted that Beyoncé may have covered Jolene and gave her thoughts during an interview with Knox News.
‘Well, I think she has! I think she’s recorded Jolene and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about that,’ the Here You Come Again hitmaker stated.
She also gushed, ‘I love her! She’s a beautiful girl and a great singer. We’ve kind of sent messages back and forth through the years.’
‘And she and her mother were like fans, and I was always touched that they were fans, and I always thought she was great.’
In 2022, Parton had expressed her wish for Beyoncé to cover Jolene. While on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, she stated, ‘I think she’s fantastic and beautiful, and I love her music.’
‘I would just love to hear Jolene done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney [Houston] did my I Will Always Love You.’
Dolly added, ‘Just someone that can take my little songs and make them like powerhouses. That would be a marvelous day in my life if she ever does do Jolene.’