Dolly Parton has released over 50 studio albums across her seven-decade career, cementing her status as an icon in the process. The widely beloved musician is perhaps best known for her songs “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” both of which she wrote in the span of a single afternoon—a stunning feat of songwriting ingenuity if there ever was one. 

Over the years, she has lent her talents to a wide variety of songs that describe everything from her childhood growing up in Appalachia to the 9-5 grind. Thanks to the sheer number of songs she’s released over the years, it’s not hard to imagine that choosing a favorite would be tough. But Parton had a clear answer when asked about which of her songs she likes the most—and she’s also been honest about which of her songs she feels aren’t quite up to par.

Dolly Parton’s Favorite Dolly Parton Songs

“My very favourite song, from a very personal level, is ‘Coat of Many Colors,’” Parton told Stephen Colbert in a 2020 interview. She went on to describe how the song’s deeply personal nature sets it apart. “That one, certainly, I love because of my mom. It’s a true story, and I have treasured memories of that,” she said. The song tells the story of a time when Parton’s mother stitched her a coat made of rags. 

It’s also become something of a rallying cry for compassion over the years, with some schools using the song and its accompanying children’s book in lessons about the importance of treating others with kindness. “It’s kind of a little signature song of mine, and it’s more than just about the coat. It’s about my Mom, it’s about family, it’s about acceptance and tolerance, it even speaks to bullying, kind of how the kids made fun of me at school,” Parton added.

For her second choice, Parton selected a lesser-known tune called “Down From Dover,” a song about a young pregnant woman forced to face life on her own. Part of the song’s appeal is that it’s so obscure, Parton said. “I like songs that I’ve recorded in albums that a lot of people have never heard,” she told Colbert.

Finally, she cited one of her greatest hits—“I Will Always Love You”—specifically for the vocal range it allows her to explore. “As far as being a singer-songwriter, all singers love to have a song that you can sing tender, and then you can go big if you want to. You can sing loud or show how much volume you know you have and how much range and all,” she said. “So I would think that the ‘I Will Always Love You’ song is really good for that.”

Dolly Parton’s Least Favorite Dolly Parton Songs

Believe it or not, even an artist of Parton’s caliber has some songs that she wishes were better—and Parton has also opened up about a few songs of hers that she doesn’t think are quite up to par. In a 2003 interview with Conan O’Brien, Parton discussed some of these lower-quality compositions. 

One of the tunes she mentioned was a song called “I’ll Oil Wells Love You,” which is about a woman in love with a wealthy man because of all the oil wells he owns. The song predated Parton’s smash hit “I Will Always Love You” by quite a bit, and could not have been more different from it.

She also mentioned “I Don’t Wanna Throw Rice,” a song she wrote with Bill Owens that was released in 1967. The song is about a woman who is jealous of another woman marrying the man she loves, and Parton cited the lyric “I don’t wanna throw rice / I wanna throw rocks at her” as perhaps not one of her finest compositions. “Yeah, there are some suckers in there,” Parton laughed in the interview. Fortunately, they’re the exceptions in Parton’s largely stellar catalogue.

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