Dolly-eyed.

Yesterday as I was heading to work, listening to my tunes, a Dolly Parton song came on. And it made me smile. You see, I've got a soft spot in my heart for Miss Parton and I have had once since I was a little girl. Mostly because my mother is a fan, and no family vacation was complete without a list of her favourite Dolly tapes. (Paul Simon, Chris de Burgh, Roy Orbison and Nana Mouskouri are other favs).

Dolly makes me smile. Listening to her softly lilting voice and her simple yet at times profound lyrics, I remember sitting on the floor in my house in Labrador, listening to White Limousine and staring a Dolly's huge pink nails in her cover art. I remember singing along to Slow Dancing With the Moon with my sister and mother in the car. For some reason, Dolly just keeps me smiling.

So, today, I felt inspired to share of few of my fav Dolly lyrics with you to make you smile:

Love is like a butterfly

As soft and gentle as a sigh

The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings

Love makes your heart feel strange inside

It flutters like soft wings in flight

Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

(From Love Is Like A Butterfly written by Dolly Parton)

I cross my heart and hope to die

I'll always be here by your side

My love grows stronger as the time goes by

Cross my heart and hope to die

And all those times we're not together

You're in my heart and you're on my mind

You're like a part of me that's missing

I cross my heart and hope to die

(From Cross My Heart written by Rachel Dennison, Randy Parton, and Frank Dycus)

It's been a long dark night

And I've been a waitin' for the morning

It's been a long hard fight

But I see a brand new day a dawning

I've been looking for the sunshine

'Cause I ain't seen it in so long

But everything's gonna work out just fine

Everything's gonna be all right

That's been all wrong

'Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning

I can see the light of a brand new day

I can see the light of a clear blue morning

And everything's gonna be all right

It's gonna be okay

(from Light of A Clear Blue Morning written by Dolly Parton)

"The thing that's always worked for me is the fact that I look so totally artificial, but am so totally real. It gives me something to work against. I have to overcome myself. I have to prove how good I am."
— London Independent, June 2002