Jolene

By Bobby Neal Winters

In the song “Hollywood Nights” Bob Seger refers to a beautiful woman and a man’s reaction to her:

She had been born with a face that would let her get her way/

He saw that face and he lost all control

Had that woman been born in the Tennessee hills, her name might very well have been Jolene.  We might recall, however, that Dolly Parton who wrote and sang “Jolene” was also in the movie “Steel Magnolias” where she said the line, “There is no such thing as natural beauty.”

I am sure that Dolly would welcome the friendly amendment that one is born with certain assets but can, through intelligence and effort, maximize those assets.

The song “Jolene” tells a story. A woman--let’s call her the Supplicant--approaches Jolene with a request: Please don’t take my man.

While the Supplicant does have affection for her man, in her application to Jolene, she is referring to him as her property. This is a sentiment that comes through loud and clear in country music from a certain era.  One might easily reference Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”

These songs reflect exchanges that are woman-to-woman.  If you listen closely, it comes through crystal clear: The man is viewed as the woman’s property. (I discussed this a few weeks back in a column about Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man.”)  We hear about this mostly from the man’s point of view with the woman as the man’s property; this is certainly not a very popular opinion.  However, if you read the epistles of Saint Paul, it is made explicit: Spouses in a marriage own each other. Marriage is a yoke that connects two individuals into one unit.

As mentioned, the Supplicant approaches Jolene with a humble request to not take her man.  The Supplicant is making this request from a perspective of weakness. Jolene is beautiful:

Your beauty is beyond compare/

With flaming locks of auburn hair/

With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green/

Your smile is like a breath of spring/

Your voice is soft like summer rain/

And I cannot compete with you, Jolene

[Given that this is an exchange between women who may, in fact, be hillbillies, one might expect to see a line: And good grief, you have an almost complete set of teeth, Jolene. But I digress.]

The Supplicant cannot compete with Jolene directly, so she seeks to ingratiate herself to Jolene through flattery.  She takes a humble posture and tries to appeal to Jolene’s better nature.

This is a contrast to “You Ain’t Woman Enough”:

Women like you they're a dime a dozen, /

you can buy 'em anywhere /

For you to get to him I'd have to move over /

And I'm gonna stand right here /

It'll be over my dead body, so get out while you can /

'Cause you ain't woman enough to take my man

Here Loretta--and it was Loretta and not an alter ego--is dealing from a position of power.  She has confidence that she would be chosen by her straying man were it to come to a confrontation. 

The Supplicant does not approach Jolene with anything near that sort of bravado. She is relying on her powers of persuasion.  She leaves the possibility that Joelene may actually love the man in question by asking, “Please don’t take him just because you can.”  

This opens itself to the interpretation that the Supplicant does not want to rob Jolene of true love, but if this is just a matter of sport, entertaining, or filling an evening, please let him go.

One thing these two songs have in common is that they are woman-to-woman.  The will of the man is not considered.

I have a friend which whom I discuss these matters, and he frequently refers to the song “If You Can Touch Her at All” by Willie Nelson:

Right or wrong a woman can own any man

She can take him inside her and hold his soul in her hand

Then leave him as weak and weary as a newborn child

Fighting to get his first breath and open his eyes

Women have more power over men that most men consciously realize.  Or maybe they do realize it and only Willie is honest enough to admit it.

While the Supplicant does not have as beautiful a face as Jolene, she has intelligence and grace.  Her only weakness is the fool she has for a husband.  Even if Jolene does not grant her favor, I have faith that she would not only love again, but more wisely.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like” the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube.