All I Can Do

Album: All I Can Do (1976)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • That's right, Dolly's in love again - only this time she's afraid to show it in case the feeling isn't mutual. The second single from her 17th solo album, it peaked at #3 on the Country chart.
  • "I remember writing this one because I thought it was such a cute idea," Dolly recalled in her 2020 book, Songteller. "I wrote it on this funky little guitar that has all those decals on it that are so cheap looking. I remember banging on the guitar with my thumb and beating out that rhythm. I was just bopping along with 'It's all I can do, it's all I can do.' I kept on playing that little riff until my thumb got sore. But I played it through, until I got the song wrote."
  • Dolly wrote several other songs on the same guitar, which is adorned with butterfly decals, but it's officially retired. It's kept on display at the Dollywood museum.
  • The album also peaked at #3 on the Country Albums chart, giving Dolly the highest chart position of her solo career until her next album, New Harvest…New Gathering, reached #1.
  • The album earned Dolly a nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 1977 Grammy Awards. She lost to Emmylou Harris for Elite Hotel.
  • Dolly co-produced All I Can Do with Porter Wagoner, her former duet partner/producer she split from in 1974 and the subject of her platonic breakup ballad "I Will Always Love You." The album marks Wagoner's final involvement in Dolly's solo career.
  • The actress Mary Kay Place covered this on her 1976 album, Tonite! At the Capri Lounge: Loretta Haggers, which featured backing vocals from Parton on a few of the tracks. Place played the wannabe country singer Loretta Haggers on the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the album at the '77 ceremony.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.