1974 | Peak: #1
Written by Dolly Parton
A tribute to her versatility as a vocalist, “Love is Like a Butterfly” also reflects her lyrical creativity.
The lilting melody is enhanced by a production that is country at the core, but has sprinklings of the psychedelic pop that the Beatles experimented with on Sgt. Pepper.
All in all, it’s an ambitious effort, so much so that it’s a bit disappointing that all this went in to a song about butterflies. There were tracks on the album that were far more compelling, especially “You’re the One who Taught Me How to Swing” and “Blackie, Kentucky”, so this pretty piece of fluff isn’t representative of the project as a whole.
But if you like Dolly Parton and love butterflies, it’s a keeper.
Grade: B
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I like this song, but don’t necessarily consider it essential listening. I love the melody and the piano bits, but the lyrics aren’t as satisfying as most of Dolly’s superior work.
Dolly would probably find it very flattering, if not downright jaw-dropping, to have a song like this compared to Sgt. Pepper. Methinks you won’t hear many, if any, such comparisons made about a lot of today’s country radio airplay.
This is a really fun song. Maybe not “essential listening,” but I like it a lot.
“But if you like Dolly Parton and love butterflies, it’s a keeper.”
Hahaha!