Dolly Parton Admitted She Intended for 1 of Her Songs to Be ‘Dirty’
When Dolly Parton released the song “Bargain Store” in 1975, she thought she had a hit on her hands. Instead, she had a song that radio stations outright refused to play because of what they viewed as inappropriate lyrics. Parton said she hadn’t set out to write a “dirty” song with “Bargain Store.” Still, she had intended for the lyrics of another song to be suggestive.
Dolly Parton said she didn’t understand why 1 of her songs was banned from the radio
The song “Bargain Store” contains the line, “If you don’t mind the fact that all the merchandise is used / But with a little mending it could be as good as new.” Parton explained she was writing about a broken heart.
“I was saying that you’ll be surprised at how good this broken heart is,” she wrote in the book Dolly Parton, Songteller. “Just take it. You’ll never be sorry that you did.”
People took it as a reference to her sex life, though, leading to its ban from the radio.
“I thought for sure that I had written a hit song,” she wrote. “And then the disc jockeys wouldn’t play it, because they thought it was suggestive. At that time, they were so difficult. Now you can show something much stronger on TV, and people don’t think a thing about it.”
Dolly Parton shared the song she intended to be dirty
When asked about the song, Parton admitted she felt “shocked” that radio stations wouldn’t play it, as she didn’t mean anything “dirty” by it. She wrote a different song that was intentionally suggestive.
“In ‘It’s All Wrong, but It’s All Right,’ I really did. I meant for it to be what it was,” she told Playboy, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “You know, what people call makin’ love to somebody you’re not married to. With lyrics like, ‘Hello, are you free tonight?/I like your looks, I love your smile / could I use you for a while?’ Just how plain can I be?”
Radio stations didn’t have a problem with this song. It spent ten weeks on the country charts, with two at No. 1.
She said she wrote other pieces that would shock people
At the same time that Parton was working on “dirty” songs, she was writing a book that she thought would shock people. She admitted to writing “horny” stories as a teenager. As an adult, she wrote a book with raunchy scenes.
“I’m writin’ a story even now; it’s pretty hot and heavy,” she said. “It’s got a lot of sex and love and violence and religion, all the human elements.”
Parton said because of the content, there was no chance of her putting it out.
“That’s why I ain’t puttin’ them out today or the day after tomorrow,” she said. “When I decide to publish some of my books, I’m goin’ to write in the front that those who think they might be offended, don’t read them. Then, if you are offended, don’t blame me, because now I’m not just a singer but also a writer; and as a writer, I have to have freedom of total expression.”
