Dolly Parton — The Grass is Blue — 1999
07.January.2021
Dolly Parton
The Grass is Blue
1999
I watched the Dolly Parton documentary, Dolly Parton: Here I Am, on Netflix last night.
Of course, I’ve always recognized Dolly Parton as a musical genius and American icon, but I came to understand just exactly how resilient she is.
1999’s The Grass is Blue came at a shallow point in her career. On the whole, her career had plateaued, and her record label had dropped her. Like anyone, she was wondering what was next.
Naturally, being an artist, she took a turn. While not necessarily re-inventing herself, Parton set aside Country/Pop and picked up her banjo and began to explore Bluegrass. Her career had been turned upside down, so why not her chosen genre?
To hear her describe the title track, “The Grass is Blue,” it seemed to sum up her life at the moment. However, she knew she had to write something more universal. Like many songwriters, Parton channeled her career strife into a song about love. Written from the perspective of a lover who has been devastated by the collapse of a relationship. To process the heartbreak, the protagonist must consider everything to be its opposite.
So simple.
So brilliant.
So true.
The Grass is Blue
Well, I’ve had to think up a way to survive
Since you said it’s over, told me, “Goodbye”
And I just can’t make it one day without you
Unless I pretend that the opposite’s true
There’s snow in the tropics
There’s ice on the sun
It’s hot in the Arctic
And crying is fun
Oh, but I’m happy now
And I’m glad we’re through
And the sky is green
And the grass is blue
Rivers flow backwards and my tears are dry
Swans hate the water and eagles can’t fly
Oh, but I’m alright now, now that I’m over you
And the sky is green
And the grass is blue
Oh, and I…, I don’t love you
And the grass is… blue
In addition to four of her own, The Grass is Blue finds Parton tapping into many different songwriters, including Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, and Lester Scruggs. Her take on Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” has a much more substantial impact on me than his version …and Cash’s is damn near perfect.
The critical response was mixed, with Robert Christgau commenting: “Bluegrass isn’t magic — she could put her back into these songs because she didn’t get a hernia writing them.”
The Grass is Blue was the first of three bluegrass album, referred to as her trilogy — 2001s Little Sparrow and 2002s Halos and Horns being the others. The record also turned out to be just the boost Dolly Parton needed for her career and helped re-establish her audience.
The album charted on both the Billboard Country Album chart as well as the Top 200. The Grass is Blue also picked up Best Bluegrass Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards and Album of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Dolly Parton has been many things throughout her career: singer, songwriter, actor, entrepreneur, feminist, guitar player, TV star, but she has always been, and always will be, an American icon.