A Welsh-language version of Dolly Parton's signature hit "Jolene," released as the second posthumous single since the country star's death on August 25, briefly carried the wrong set of lyrics on Spotify — labeled in Irish rather than Welsh.
The single, which came out on October 9, blends English and Welsh verses in a collaboration between Parton, Welsh singer-songwriter Bronwen Lewis and Parton's niece, Jada Star. Spotify removed the mislabeled lyrics after the BBC raised the error, though the streaming service did not respond to questions about when the mistake occurred or when it was first noticed.
A song tied to Parton's own roots
Parton, who won 10 Grammy Awards and sold more than 100 million records across a seven-decade career, was of Welsh descent, and reportedly told fans about her ancestry during a 2008 concert at the Cardiff International Arena. Star has said one branch of the family, from Parton's mother Avie Lee Owens, was initially believed to trace back to Conwy in north Wales; after Parton's death, archivists at Conwy council instead traced the family to Machynlleth, in Powys.
How the collaboration came together
The Welsh version grew out of a social-media post: Lewis, from Neath, translated the 1973 classic and shared it online, prompting Star to reach out about recording it together — with Parton eventually joining as well. Lewis and Star recorded their parts in the UK while Parton recorded hers at her studio in Nashville. "Jolene," written about Parton's fear of losing her husband Carl Dean to a flirtatious bank clerk, gave Parton her second number-one country single, earned a 1974 Grammy nomination and has been streamed more than a billion times on Spotify, with cover versions recorded by artists across genres in the decades since.