Tonight, Will Rogers himself is writing this column.
I was sad to learn that Dolly Parton died. I heard a couple of folks say we have several similarities.
I wrote a lot of words, almost 2 million total, that got published in newspapers across the country. I got paid quite well for those words.
Dolly was a whole lot smarter as a writer. She wrote fewer words, but they rhymed! And she sang those words, and let others sing ‘em too.
See, the difference is, I got paid once. She gets paid every time her songs are bought and played on radio, and paid even more when other great singers record her rhyming words.
Now, right there’s a huge difference. I’m not a singer. I joked one time about two singers on a Vaudeville show with me. Honestly, they were not good. They called themselves the Cherry Sisters. I said they must have been named before lemons were invented. And my singing was worse. More like prunes.
Dolly and I both came from rural America, her from the Smokey Mountains and me from Indian Territory. I said one time, “I’m just an old country boy living in a big town trying to get along. I’ve been eatin’ pretty regular and the reason I have been is because I’ve stayed an old country boy.” Dolly could make the exact same quote, changing it to “country girl.”
She and other poor folks from East Tennessee were called hillbillies. Folks from my area became known as Okies. As Dolly said once, we may not have been as sophisticated as city folks, but we were blessed with common horse sense.
We both know the value of reading. I said, “We learn by two things: one is reading, the other is associatin’ with smarter people.” I also said, many times, “All I know is what I read in the newspaper.” Dolly did most of her reading in books. And she has made sure that our young children get plenty of books to read, with a gift program called Imagination Library.
I read a wonderful compliment to both me and Dolly from a former councilman in the Cherokee Nation, Keith Austin. He wrote, ‘They have the kind of universal fame that allows them to connect with kings and queens, movie stars and presidents, while still speaking directly to the common man and woman. Both helped us see and connect with people who lived and believed differently, not by lecturing, but through humor, music, storytelling and kindness.’
Keith, I thank you for those kind words. And I know Dolly appreciates them and all of the other thousands or millions of accolades since her untimely death.
I’ve heard suggestions that a statue of her should be sculpted and placed in the Tennessee Capitol. And attach her name to the airport in Nashville. Now, with humility, I know a little bit about statues and naming airports.
Actually, I prefer having her statue in the U.S. Capitol. Each state has two. One representing Tennessee is John Sevier, an honorable former governor. Now I hope my Cherokee blood is not making me prejudiced, but Dolly Parton should replace the other one in there, Andrew Jackson.
I would be mighty proud to have her placed right next to me. You probably see me frequently on television because I’m near the entrance to the House of Representatives. I guarantee that when various Congressmen are interviewed on news programs with us standing proudly behind them, viewers would prefer seeing Dolly’s smile and beautiful, ahem, shapely body, more than mine.
I just returned from a wonderful conference of “older” professional speakers in the DC area. Next week I’ll tell you about it, including a delightful 60-minute conversation with Winston Churchill and Florence Nightingale. Yes, the three of us were interviewed by Terry Brock, in an updated version of the old Steve Allen program, Meeting of the Minds.