By: Chuck Miller
Music

Beyoncé’s “Jolene” challenged by Roy Orbison’s version of “Jolene”

In an unexpected twist that nobody saw coming, the country music world is stunned by a current “cover war” over the recording of Dolly Parton’s classic song “Jolene.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oWdOa1zdu0

Over the weekend, Beyoncé’s reinterpretation of the song “Jolene” slammed into the spot on Spotify’s charts, as well as the spot on Billboard magazine’s country music charts. The amazing accomplishment by the multi-Grammy award winning singer and actress was considered a watershed moment for country music.

That was until an unearthed recording by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roy Orbison somehow entered the radio world, and is now battling Beyoncé’s version on most country music charts.

“We can’t believe this is happening,” said Connie Morgan, the president of Interplayer-Large Machine Records Nashville. “No one ever knew that Roy Orbison had covered Dolly Parton’s song, until someone found this old, scratchy 45 of the track. It’s almost as if Roy Orbison had returned to life, put on his shades, and stared singing again.”

Orbison passed away in 1988, just at the time when his song “You Got It” was climbing the pop charts; it would be one of his last known songs to grace pop and country radio – until now.

“I mean,” said Morgan, “the record was definitely mislabeled. It says Dolly Parton’s singing the song, but when we play it, that’s definitely the same guy who sang ‘Only the Lonely’ and ‘Oh, Pretty Woman.’ We immediately licensed the track and have been promoting the life out of it.”

When questioned why the song was being played at 33 1/3 rpm as opposed to the standard 45 rpm for 7-inch singles, Morgan said, “What do you mean, there’s different rotation speeds on this machine? Nobody told me that! Holy shit, I just cost our record company a ton of money!!”

At the same time, a 1980’s new wave band from Rhode Island named Rubber Rodeo have contacted Interplayer-Large Machine Records Nashville, asking if they could get their old independent college radio version of “Jolene” into rotation as well.

And at the same time, a British pop singer has also entered the fray, claiming that he too has the seminal cover of “Jolene” and wants it to get some airplay. He doesn’t have a video for it yet, but you can hear his version by clicking at this link.