Dolly Parton might have all the fixings of a diva—a larger-than-life personality, a braggable career, a love of all things sparkly and glamorous-looking, and so on. But this country music icon didn’t reach her royalty status by not being a savvy businesswoman first, and she demonstrated her priorities countless times over her decades-long career. Sometimes, it looked like she was turning down the once-in-a-lifetime offer of Elvis Presley covering her song.
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Other times, it looked like Parton allowed someone else’s cover of a song she wrote to take precedence, even if it would have been understandable if she didn’t. In June 1977, Parton released her nineteenth studio album, Here You Come Again. That same year, a recording artist named Zella Lehr released a version of “Two Doors Down”, the second track on the album’s B-side.
Around this same time, Parton released her first single from the album, the title track, in late September. “Here You Come Again” and “Two Doors Down” by Parton and Lehr began to take off in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts, respectively.
Dolly Parton Didn’t Turn “Two Doors Down” Into a Competition
By the time Dolly Parton was set to release her second single from Here You Come Again, “Two Doors Down”, the version performed by Zella Lehr had already been on the charts for months. And at a No. 7 ranking on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, Zehr’s version was definitely getting ample airplay. Even though Parton was enjoying an even higher No. 3 peak on the Hot 100 for “Here You Come Again”, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed singer was, first and foremost, country.
If Parton were led by her ego, she might have turned “Two Doors Down” into a competition between her and Lehr. After all, it’s much easier to compare apples to apples than apples to oranges. Suppose Parton had released a country version of the song, people would naturally draw comparisons between the two. Instead, Parton decided to lean into the crossover success of “Here You Come Again” and drift even further away from country and closer to disco.
While Parton’s version of “Two Doors Down” didn’t land on the country charts like Lehr’s did, we’re sure the Top 20 placements on the even more mainstream Hot 100 helped her feel better about any perceived slights. Ultimately, though, we believe this to be one of the many examples of Parton choosing to prioritize business over prima donna tendencies. Sure, she wrote the song. But she has often said she considers herself to be a songwriter first.
The fact that she gets to record the songs she writes, too, is just a bonus—not an inevitability.
Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images
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