Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S… Read Full Bio ↴Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S.) is an American country singer, songwriter, composer, producer, entrepreneur, author and actress.

Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television in East Tennessee. At age 12 she was appearing on Knoxville TV, and at 13, she was recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. When she graduated from high school in 1964 she moved to Nashville, taking many traditional elements of folklore and popular music from East Tennessee with her.

Parton's initial success came as a songwriter, with her songs being covered by Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Jr., Skeeter Davis, and a number of others. She signed with Monument Records in late 1965, where she was initially pitched as a bubblegum pop singer, earning only one national chart single, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby," which did not crack the Billboard Top 100. Additional pop singles also failed to chart.

The label agreed to have Parton sing country music after her composition "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" as recorded by Bill Phillips (and with Parton, uncredited, on harmony) went to No. 6 on the country charts in 1966. Her first country single, "Dumb Blonde" (one of the few songs during this era that she recorded but didn't write), reached No. 24 country 1967, followed later the same year with "Something Fishy," which went to No. 17. The two songs anchored her first full-length album, Hello I'm Dolly, that same year.

In 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly syndicated country music TV program hosted by Porter Wagoner, replacing Norma Jean. She also signed with RCA Records, Wagoner's label, during this period, where she would remain for the next two decades. Wagoner and Parton immediately began a hugely successful career as a vocal duet in addition to their solo work and their first single together, a cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind," reached the top ten on the U.S. country charts in late 1967, and was the first of over a dozen duet singles to chart for them during the next several years.

Parton is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country songs with strong elements of folk music in them based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors" and "Jolene" have become classics in the field, as have a number of others. As a composer, she is also regarded as one of country music's most gifted storytellers, with many of her narrative songs based on persons and events from her childhood.

In 1982 Dolly Parton sang her song "I Will Always Love You", for the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", starring Parton and Burt Reynolds. The song - originally composed around 1974 - made few ripples, but it wasn't until Whitney Houston re-recorded it for "The Bodyguard" a decade later, that the song made yet another international hit for Dolly Parton. She later put out her own version on the 1996 album of the same name.

In 1987, Parton left her longtime label, RCA, and signed with Columbia Records, where her recording career continued to prosper, but by the mid 1990s, Parton, along with many other performers of her generation, found that her new music was not welcome on country radio playlists. She recorded a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums, beginning with "The Grass is Blue" (1999) and "Little Sparrow" (2001), both of which won Grammy Awards. Her 2002 album "Halos and Horns" included a bluegrass version of the Led Zeppelin classic Stairway to Heaven. In 2005, Parton released Those Were The Days, her interpretation of hits from the folk-rock era of the late 1960s through early 1970s. The CD featured such classics as John Lennon's "Imagine," Cat Stevens' "Where Do The Children Play," Tommy James' "Crimson & Clover," and the folk classic "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", as well as the title track.

In 2007, Dolly paved new musical ground by forming her own record label, Dolly Records. The label's first release - Backwoods Barbie - debuted at #2 on the Billboard country albums charts and marks Parton's first mainstream country album in 17 years. Parton is touring North America and Europe throughout 2008 in support of her latest release.

1955

I Took Him for Granted
Dolly Parton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I once was blind
But now I see
I took him for granted
She took him from me

I once had a love
But now now I have none
And I'm, I'm as blue as can be

I treated him a-wrong
And now I'm, I'm all alone
I took him for granted
She took him from me

Well if I had known then
Just what I know now
I would've treated him so differently
And if I, if I had known
Well then I
I could've shown him more love
Than he'll ever see from her

I thought I had his love
In the palm of my hand
But I, I guess she showed me
And now I, I understand
Just how she, she got my man

I took him for granted
She took him from me

Overall Meaning

The song "I Took Him for Granted" by Dolly Parton is a heartbreaking ballad about a woman who realizes too late that she did not appreciate or value the love of her man. The first verse talks about how the woman was once blind but now she can see, which could be interpreted as gaining clarity about her own actions and how they led to the loss of her love. The line "I took him for granted, she took him from me" highlights the irony of how the woman's failure to appreciate her man led to his being taken away by someone else.

The second verse reveals the painful reality of the woman's love life after losing her man. She is left with nothing and is filled with remorse for how she treated her man badly. She recognizes that she is blue and alone because she took her man for granted. In the third verse, the woman is overwhelmed with regret and feels that if she had known then what she knows now, she would have treated her man differently. She also realizes that she could have shown him more love than he is now receiving from someone else.

The final verse suggests that the woman falsely believed that she had her man's love in the palm of her hand but was proven wrong when he was taken from her by another woman. She acknowledges that, in the end, she is responsible for losing her man because of how she treated him. The song is a powerful reminder to appreciate the people we love and to treat them with the respect and admiration they deserve.

Line by Line Meaning

I once was blind
I was unaware of the value of my relationship

But now I see
I understand the importance of my relationship now

I took him for granted
I didn't appreciate my partner

She took him from me
Someone else stole my partner from me

I once had a love
I used to have a loving relationship

But now now I have none
Now I am alone

And I'm, I'm as blue as can be
I'm very sad and depressed

I treated him a-wrong
I didn't treat my partner well

And now I'm, I'm all alone
As a result, I am single and have nobody

Well if I had known then
I regret not realizing back then

Just what I know now
What I know now about the value of a good relationship