Part 5
And then there's the statue. A few years back, a fan campaign pushed for a bronze Dolly to be erected in her honor. Dolly's response was pure, unfiltered self-deprecation. She joked that her father would have said something like, "Well, that's about right — a pigeon can sit on her head and an outhouse nearby." She imagined him looking at a bronze likeness of his daughter and seeing not a monument, but a perch for birds and a reminder of the outhouse they once had. It's a joke that only works if you know where she came from. And she makes sure you know. She never lets you forget the dirt road, the possum, the 12 kids, the mama who called a woman "trash."
That's the genius of Dolly's self-deprecation. It's not a shield. It's a bridge. She invites you into the joke, and once you're laughing, she's already moved on to the next one. She's been doing it for over 60 years — from The Porter Wagoner Show in the late '60s to her 2023 rock album Rockstar, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. She's 78 and still touring, still writing, still cracking jokes about her own ass. And we're still laughing. Not at her. With her. Because she's the one who taught us how.
So the next time you see Dolly Parton — on stage, on screen, in a bronze statue with a pigeon on her head — remember the woman who wanted to be trash when she grew up. She got her wish. And she made it look like the best thing in the world. That's the takeaway. That's the charm. That's Dolly. And if you think you've heard the last of her wit, think again. Next time, we're diving into the interview moments that made the hosts blush — and the one that made Johnny Carson lose his composure. You won't want to miss it.
