Dolly Parton spent a lifetime giving to others. It turns out she planned one particularly special gift for a generation still to come.
The late, great Dolly Parton spent more than six decades giving us songs. Songs to dance to, cry to, work to, fall in love to and, on occasion, sing rather passionately into a hairbrush when nobody else was home. And it turns out she wasn't quite finished.
As fans around the world mourn the death of the much-loved queen of country at 80, stories of her extraordinary generosity, humor, and faith are being shared everywhere. Yet tucked away in Tennessee is one final Dolly story that somehow manages to contain so much of what made her special: her music, her humor, her roots and her remarkable ability to think several decades ahead. The only hiccup: We just have to wait 20 years to hear it!
Hidden inside a wooden box at Dollywood's DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge is a song nobody apart from Dolly and those involved in its recording has ever heard. It's called, rather poignantly now, "My Place in History." Dolly wrote and recorded it in 2015 and left instructions that the box remain sealed until January 19, 2046, the day she would have turned 100. And her death doesn't change the plan: Dollywood confirmed this week that the song will remain under wraps until then.
A song for the future
The story began in 2015, when Dolly opened the DreamMore Resort near the Great Smoky Mountains where she grew up. As part of the opening, a time capsule was created, but this being Dolly Parton, apparently photographs and a few mementos weren't quite enough. She was asked to write and record an entirely new song that would remain unheard for decades.
The recording was placed inside a chestnut “Dream Box,” displayed behind glass at the resort. Dolly even included a CD player alongside the recording, presumably in case the inhabitants of 2046 stare at a CD with the same bewilderment today's children reserve for a cassette tape -- and actually, CDs, too, come to think of it!
A piece of wood from the porch of her childhood home is also displayed with the box, adding another little link between the girl who grew up singing with 11 siblings in rural Tennessee and the extraordinary life that followed.
There was, however, one slight problem with this perfectly executed plan: Dolly decided she'd written far too good a song to leave sitting in a box.
Years later, she remained magnificently irritated about having agreed to it. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2022, she admitted:
“I have regretted that, because it was a really good song!”
She even joked that she kept asking to dig it up and replace it with something that wasn't quite as good.
Would Dolly be there to hear it?
When Dolly wrote about the mysterious song in her 2020 book, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, the question of whether she might actually make it to the grand unveiling was still open. She knew she'd be approaching 100, but Dolly being Dolly, she wasn't ruling anything out.
“I don't know if I want to live to be 100 or not. But you never know,” she wrote, adding that if she did, she planned to be there for the opening. She was also characteristically concerned about the practicalities, wondering whether the recording and its technology would actually survive three decades intact.
Sadly, we now know she won't be standing there when the box is opened. But the idea of leaving something behind for people she might never meet feels like the ultimate gesture from a woman whose generosity so often stretched far beyond her immediate world.
You've no doubt heard of her Imagination Library, which began in her home county in Tennessee in 1995. Thanks to this initiative, hundreds of millions of free books have been sent to young children. Her investment in Dollywood transformed the economy of the region where she grew up, creating jobs and opportunities while keeping her beloved Smoky Mountains at the heart of the enormous success she'd built elsewhere.
And, as we've seen in the press and social media, she took the time out of what must have been a pretty hectic schedule to write to people she'd never met, such as the famously troubled rapper Eminem, to offer them encouragement and support.
So the song feels like one last act of generosity: a gift left waiting for fans and generations she knew she might never meet.
Dolly wasn't planning on going quietly
In fact, My Place in History wasn't Dolly's only attempt to make sure her music outlived her. Years ago, she revealed that she had deliberately recorded vocals in ways that would allow future producers to create new arrangements after her death.
She knew that she had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of songs still sitting somewhere in her extraordinary catalogue, many of them never recorded. So she began laying down vocals with click tracks specifically so that other musicians could work with them in the future. As she explained at the time: “I'm one of those people that believe in being prepared,” as shared by EW News.
It turns out she was even more prepared than we knew. Since her death, her longtime manager Danny Nozell has revealed that Dolly worked with her team on a whole “project roadmap” intended to guide releases for years to come, including music, books, television projects and a biopic, with Dolly herself having put her stamp on projects before she died.
As People shared, even Dollywood remained open after her death because that was what Dolly wanted. The park said she had always reminded those around her that “the show must go on,” and its president Eugene Naughton promised that her legacy would continue through the music, smiles, and dreams within its gates.
And perhaps that makes the song waiting there all the more touching. Dolly spent her life giving people her music, but she also understood something about leaving a little of ourselves behind. Most of us won't be able to leave our families an unheard song tucked away in a chestnut box for 20 years, but we can leave something of our time on earth for the people we love. A letter to be opened later, a recording of our voice, a recipe written in our own hand, a story our children or grandchildren might one day be very glad we thought to preserve. Dolly's version happens to be, just like the songstress, rather more spectacular.
On January 19, 2046, when the box will finally be opened, the world will discover what "My Place in History" sounds like. Of course, even now, the title feels almost unnecessary as Dolly Parton's place in history was secured long before she left us.
The sad thought is that some of the fans eagerly waiting to hear it today won't be here in 20 years' time. Then again, considering Dolly's faith, perhaps they needn't feel too cheated. They may simply get to hear her perform it in person — with considerably better seats.
And to finish off, we thought we'd leave you with Dolly's reminder to Shine!
