It’s not uncommon for many stars from days gone by to bring out new recordings of their old hits, many classic 70s acts have done it for one reason or another. Usually the purpose of these re-recordings is to do something a little different but still recognisable with familiar songs to make the listener think, “oh yes, I always thought it could work that way!” But Dolly Parton’s latest venture has a different agenda.
The country singer-songwriter, ironically best known for writing “I Will Always Love You”, which was covered by Whitney Houston in the 1990s, has new album of re-recorded hits features the same arrangements of the old songs, but updated lyrics to reflect modern times, and the album is spearheaded with “(Work ‘Til) Ninety-Five”, reflecting the ever-increasing retirement age.
“I know some people just think of me as a big busty blonde and that’s all right, because I am and I’ll admit it’s helped get me where I am today, but I’m not gettin’ any younger and I want to say somethin’ of substance in my songs now. I could write new songs on these themes of course, and I’m sure I will, but sometimes it’s just easier usin’ an old song with new words. If people know the tune already, then they’ll pick it up a lot quicker darlin’.”
Certainly the song 9 to 5 is a natural choice for this treatment, the lyrics needed minimal adjustment, just a few minor tweaks to the chorus was all it took, leading some to question why she bothered to make such a change.
“Hey, if y’all just wanna listen to the original you can do that,” she said. “I just felt it I was doin’ this, changin’ the lyrics to everythin’ else, then I couldn’t leave this one alone, and it’s not much of a change really.”
The notion of a re-recording with only a slight change to the chorus is not unprecedented, Status Quo re-recorded “Rockin’ All Over The World” (written by John Fogerty) as “Runnin’ All Over The World”, and Tears For Fears re-recorded their hit “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” as “Everybody Wants To Run The World”, both with minimal lyrical changes, for Sport Aid in the 1980s.
Parton’s reissued album, entitled “Somethin’ Old, Somethin’ New, Somethin’ Borrowed, Somethin’ Blue”, features re-recordings of many of her songs from the last half-century including “In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)”, “The Bargain Store”, and “It’s Sure Gonna Hurt.” There is also a bonus track on the UK version in which “Jolene” is re-recorded as “Arlene”.
The album is in the shops now in time for Christmas.