Like everyone, I was grieved to read the news that Dolly Parton died today. She is an American original and has been a ubiquitous presence in our popular culture for about half a century.
I suspect her passing will be a bigger event in American life that some might anticipate. She is loved and admired by almost everyone from all sides of the cultural and political divides in our country. That’s really difficult to achieve, but she somehow did it for multiple generations.
She was extraordinary. Her songwriting alone could have made ten careers. But on top of that she was the consummate performer, not only as a singer but also as a film star.
Her most iconic roles were in Nine to Five and Steel Magnolias, and she earned an Oscar nomination for the latter. That movie will always be special to our family because it was filmed not far from my hometown in south Louisiana, and also because the character Weezer was named for a real life Weezer, who was the mother of my wife’s best friend.
If I had to pick a favorite song, it would not be her most famous one, “I Will Always Love You,” although I always preferred her version over Whitney Houston’s. Nor is it “Islands in the Stream,” even though yours truly and “the missus” once did a karaoke rendition of that one. No, I think I would pick “Hard Candy Christmas,” even though it may have been the most melancholy thing she ever sang.
The video below is how I always picture Dolly Parton in my mind’s eye. She is frozen in time there. Funny. Self-deprecating. Captivating performer. An iconic figure in the American story. A passing star of my parent’s generation.
I suspect this celebrity death will hit differently with many people in our nation. She really is beloved by almost everyone. Who doesn’t like Dolly Parton? She always seemed like she genuinely loved people. Her philanthropy reflects that spirit. She loved her fans, and they loved her back and then some.
Life is such a vapor. “All flesh is like grass, and all its loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass” (Isaiah 50:6-7). “Surely every man at his best is a mere breath… he amasses riches, and does not know who will gather them” (Ps. 39:5-6).
All of us great or small are going to make the transition that Dolly Parton made today. The day will be here before we know it. Every death reminds us of that, but the point lands with particular resonance when the end comes for one of the great ones. Even the most luminous among us are heading to the same end as the most forgotten and unseen among us–which must be why the Psalmist prayed as he did:
“LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the extent of my days,
Let me know how transient I am…
Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths…
And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.”
–Psalm 39:4-7
Dolly Parton was 80 years old. Rest in peace.
