“When I’m feeling scared, kids call me yellow
But I can find my courage and be a brave fellow”
There are many times when I’m a bit apprehensive. You’re not always as self-confident as you
sometimes force yourself to be. There
are many times when I proceed with caution – let’s put it that way. The yellow for me is more for caution than total
outright fear.
I always pay attention to every emotion I have and I always
kind of think of that as a gut feeling.
Those colors are like gut feelings to me. If it doesn’t feel right to me somehow then I
don’t pursue that or I certainly proceed carefully. So …
G: But you seem to
have this remarkable confidence. It’s
hard to believe that anything would really scare you.
D: Well, I’m not
frightened by life. But we all have our
pride, and we all have our ego and you know, we’re all allowed that. It’s the ego problems and the false pride
that, you know, that’s the downfall of most people. But I just believe there’s nothing wrong with
trying and what’s the worst that’s going to happen? If I fail at something are they going to kill
me? You know, it’s like, I just feel like I’m a, I only kind of set my own
records and try to break them. I don’t
try to compete with other people. I try
to be my very best self and do the very best I can and I’m never going to know
if I can do it or not if I don’t try.
So, I grew up very poor and hard.
I know what it’s like to rough it, so I just kind of look at everything
like “Well, how hard can it be. I’ve been there”. Laugh
G: Let’s try red
“But guess what happens when my sister pulls my hair
Then I turn red. I’m
as angry as a bear.”
How often does Dolly Parton get red?
D: … Actually, I
often say, I mean, I have a lot of guts, I have a lot of strength and
stamina. I’m a gentle-hearted person and
basically a happy-hearted person but I’m a business person as well. And I don’t tolerate a bunch of junk. I’ve, you know, I’ve worked with people but
when people are kind of out of line, and I often say, I don’t always ‘lose’ my
temper but I’ll often ‘use’ it. And
there are just some things about some people that really get my burrs up, turn
me a little red, at people that are late, at people that are disrespectful,
people that, you know, don’t consider other people’s feelings and kind of see
the whole picture. So, there are many,
many things that will get me riled. As I
often said, if I don’t like where you have it, I can certainly tell you where
to put it.
G: OK, I’ll just do
one more then I’ll get to some normal questions. Pink.
You say in “I’m A Rainbow” you’re kids’ book, you say:
“When I’m tickled pink it means I’m feeling dandy.
Everything is great, as sweet as cotton candy”
I’m guessing pink is your natural state of being, Dolly, or
is that a show?
D: Well now, you know
actually, I have a lot of pink days. I have
a lot of cotton candy days. But nothing
is ever sweet and it’s like I’ve always said ‘If you walk the rainbow you have
to tolerate the rain’ because that’s the only way you’re going to get one. You couldn’t, you know, you shouldn’t want
everything to be pink every day. Then
you would have no depth, you would have no personality. So I’m definitely not one that would want to
be pink every day and I am every color in the rainbow. I see to it.
I’m a coat of many colors. And I
just try to deal with those emotions like I’m trying to teach the little
children in this book only in a smaller, light-hearted way, in a, you know,
elementary way they can understand it.
But, in a grown-up way I still deal with all those colors every day
myself. And, of course, we would all
prefer to be ‘in the pink’ but that doesn’t mean we’re going to always be.
. . .
I realized my imagination was going to carry me far and this
natural gift I had . . . But you’ve got to put it to work on your own and make
the most of what you know, you can do with what you know you have.
Re: young girls
asking about body image
Dolly: They do ask
and that is a very sensitive thing, kind of like you don’t want to feel like
those hypocrites that say ‘Do as I do’, I mean ‘Do as I say, not as I do’. But I always tell people that the way I look
came from a very serious place within me.
I did not feel pretty and we were very poor. I wanted to be pretty. We didn’t have any money to buy makeup nor
clothes or anything else, for that matter.
So this actually came from a serious place and I learned early on that I
was comfortable with this. But if you
are a natural beauty and you do have ways to have other things I think you
should not try to pattern yourself after other people so much as just doing what
feels right for you. I know I’m over
done. I certainly wouldn’t want somebody
telling me. I wouldn’t go tell somebody “oh
you should go to get you a wig and you got to get you some 3 inch nails and you
got to get some 5 inch heels. You know,
I would just say ‘Be yourself’. I’m just
being my self doing what is right for me.
You do what’s best and right for you.
Listen close to your own heart and to your own mind and soul and God
will direct you and, or, you’ll know what to do just from that higher place
within yourself.
. . .
G: It’s so true that
you’re success, you really own who you are.
It’s clear, staying true to your roots and who you really are has been a
big part of you. It’s hard to figure out
how to instill those same values when you talk to kids though, right? How do you
D: It is. You don’t know; everybody’s life lessons are
different and I have stayed true to myself.
I take my work very serious but I’ve never taken myself so serious that
I couldn’t have fun and enjoy it. But,
it’s really hard to tell other people how to be and I always say I don’t want
advice, I don’t want anybody giving me advice.
I want information. Just give me
information and I’ll decide how much of that I can use and what is right for
me. So I really don’t believe that
people should try to mold and shape children to be what they think they should
be. I think you should encourage them
and help them be what they are and pay close attention to that. But I’ve stayed true to who I believe I am
and based on what I deal with every day because I think it’s important. True success means being a success at what
you do, being a successful at it but also being able to enjoy it and be happy
with that and be grateful and see that you’ve accomplished it. That’s true success when you can enjoy what
you’ve done.
G: It seems like you’ve
got so much on the go. You’re still
touring, you’re playing shows, you’re making music, you’ve just done this
Broadway musical, you were in New York for the opening of the musical ‘9 to 5
The Musical’. This book, “I’m A Rainbow”
for kids, the Imagination Library. Do
you reflect on what you want to do? Is
there still something left for Dolly Parton that you haven’t done that you’re
aspiring to?
D: Absolutely. There are a lot of wonderful things and a lot
it has to do in the world of children. I
want have a show, a children’s show of my own, some of it animated and some
shows that are not but I’ve always to do that and to do more children’s
programming, CDs, DVDs, and working in that and actually just let me mention
that “I am a Rainbow” keep talking about it going into the Imagination Library,
that will be next year, but this book is just out now and it is on sale where
all books are sold. So you can go pick
this book up and all the money that I’m making from this book, every dime of it
is going totally into the Imagination Library.
I’m not putting a penny of that in my pocket. I just love being able to get the chance to
be creative and to write so just wanted the folks to know that they can go buy
this book now. It will be next year in
the Library for the little children
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