We Used To

Album: Dolly (1975)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Dolly Parton is no stranger to heartache ballads like "We Used To," a wistful recollection of romantic times spent with an ex-lover. Because she's so adept at expressing the pain of a broken romance, many of her fans assume the long-married singer must have had a string of affairs. Dolly responded in her 2020 book, Songteller: "I say, 'Well, I don't admit or deny anything.' I have been everywhere, and I have felt everything. I'm a very passionate person, and I feel everything to the nth degree.

    But the truth is that I can draw from other people's sorrows, as well as my own. It's easy for me to write about heartaches. Hurt is hurt, whoever you are. Hell, I had boyfriends from the time I was three years old. I have always loved boys. I've had my sweethearts. I'm like Will Rogers, 'I've never met a man I didn't like.'"

    Although Dolly likes to joke about her penchant for flirting with men, she insisted she only had eyes for her husband, Carl Dean, whom she married in 1966 and stayed with until his death in 2025. Besides, Carl landed himself in hot water with Dolly when he got flirtatious with a redheaded bank teller named "Jolene."
  • This was the second single from Dolly's 16th solo album, following "The Seeker." It peaked at #9 on the Country chart.
  • Dolly announced her split from her longtime duet partner Porter Wagoner in 1974, famously writing the platonic love song "I Will Always Love You" as a testament to their friendship. But Wagoner was still in Dolly's professional orbit for a couple more years; she continued to appear on his TV program, and he produced and arranged her Dolly album. Her subsequent release, All I Can Do marked the end of Wagoner's involvement with Dolly's solo material.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

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

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.