Spotify Removes Irish Lyrics on Parton’s Welsh Jolene — SkimNews
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- Spotify incorrectly labeled the lyrics for Dolly Parton’s Welsh version of “Jolene” as Irish, although the recording contains both Welsh and English.
- Spotify removed the Irish lyrics after the BBC approached it for comment, but did not answer when the single and lyrics were uploaded, when the error was noticed or when they would be replaced.
- Dolly Parton recorded the Welsh collaboration before her death on 25 August with Welsh singer-songwriter Bronwen Lewis and her niece Jada Star; the single came out on 9 October as her second posthumous release.
- Bronwen Lewis translated “Jolene” and posted the translation on social media; Jada Star then proposed recording it in Welsh with Lewis, and Parton joined them.
- “Jolene” was released in 1973, earned a 1974 Grammy nomination, became Parton’s second Billboard Hot Country Singles No. 1 and first Hot 100 entry at No. 60, and has since surpassed one billion Spotify streams.
- Conwy council archive staff suggested after Parton’s death that her ancestors were from Machynlleth in Powys, not Conwy as previously believed; she had reportedly discussed her Welsh ancestry at a 2008 Cardiff International Arena concert.
Why it matters: Spotify’s removal is the only disclosed correction to the 9 October single, while the BBC received no answers on upload timing, error detection or replacement. Listeners are left without lyric text instead of the correct Welsh-and-English lyrics; the original “Jolene” has more than one billion Spotify streams.
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