Los Angeles, Oct 16 (NationPress) Singer-actress Dolly Parton is ecstatic as her legendary song ‘Jolene’ has reached the remarkable milestone of 52 years since its debut. To commemorate this special occasion, she shared a nostalgic video of her performing the beloved track.

The clip features her enthralling performance of the song. “52 years of ‘Jolene’,” she captioned the post. This iconic hit, which first graced the airwaves in 1973, draws inspiration from a real-life muse, according to People magazine.

The song’s narrative is loosely based on a real red-haired woman who once caught the attention of Parton’s late husband, Carl Dean, at a bank shortly after their marriage.

As reported by People, the lyrics depict Dolly pleading with Jolene, a woman whose “beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair,” not to “take” her man, as she “could never love again” if she lost him.

“(The) song was loosely based on a little bit of truth,” Parton shared during the Glastonbury Festival in 2014, as noted by The Independent. “I wrote that years ago when my husband was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be.”

Parton recounted in a 2008 NPR interview, “She got this terrible crush on my husband. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us; I would say, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song overall, but sounds like a dreadful one.”

Regarding the real Jolene, Parton derived the title from a chance encounter with a young fan during one of her concerts. She recalled to NPR, “One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl, probably around 8 years old at the time.”

She described the girl as having “beautiful red hair, beautiful skin, and beautiful green eyes”, looking up at her and asking for an autograph. Parton asked the girl her name, to which she replied, “Jolene.” Parton then thought, “That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.”