Dolly Parton reveals that the real Jolene was actually just a little red-headed girl asking for an autograph. ​“There was a little girl at one of our shows. She was a little red-headed girl, pretty as she could be. She came up to get an autograph.” ​“She said, ‘Would you sign it to Jolene?’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s a pretty name, I’m gonna write a song about you.’” ​“I said, ‘If you ever hear a song on the radio called Jolene, you’ll know it’s about you.’” ​“I got back to the bus and I was singing, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene’ just so I wouldn’t forget the name.” ​“That’s why the whole chorus is pretty much just saying the word Jolene.”