“Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That”
Dolly Parton
Written by Bob Carlisle and Randy Thomas
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
August 5, 1989
Dolly Parton’s ability to read the market and pivot has been nearly as important to her lengthy success as her status as one of the greatest songwriters in the history of popular music.
As good as that pen of hers is, when New Harvest…First Gathering didn’t provide the big pop breakthrough she was looking for, she went to established pop songwriters for “Here You Come Again.” Pop and film superstardom followed, but by the mid-eighties, she was an afterthought under the new RCA Nashville staff. So she signed an innovative deal with CBS/Columbia, where she’d alternate releasing country and pop albums.
She kicked things off with Rainbow, which was her most poorly received studio album since her commercial breakthrough. The purely pop record was her least visible project of this time period, overshadowed by her variety series and more critically the Trio project. That rootsy record with Linda and Emmylou scored four top ten country hits and a slew of awards while becoming her highest-charting album on the pop charts.
Ever the smart businesswoman, she ditched the pop/country dichotomy and went into the studio with Ricky Skaggs to create her most purely country solo album since the mid-seventies. She’d write the second No. 1 hit from White Limozeen herself, but again she chose to launch a critical project with outside material. The result is one of her most popular and entertaining records, showcasing the Dolly Parton personality that had made her so popular on film and television. She’s warm and giggly and engaging in a performative way that you didn’t see as much of on her earlier records, but slowly became the norm as time progressed, especially in her live performances.
She’s supported by a similarly playful production, with some twangy sound effects thrown in for good measure. It flirts with being a novelty record, but it doesn’t quite get there because she still delivers the key lines with sincerity. You can hear her heart break just a little bit as she sings, “He’s got himself a mean streak a half a mile wide, and now he’s dancing on this heart of mine.” It goes right back into the chorus hook after that, but those moments in the verses keep things grounded just enough to make the song work as a heartbreak bop.
Parton used this comeback single to harness the growing popularity of music videos as well, and made her first memorable video in support of the song. That was enough to earn her a CMA nomination for Music Video that fall, and the song then returned her to the Best Country Female Vocal Performance category at the Grammys for the first time in four years. By 1990, she’d returned to the Entertainer of the Year and Top Female Vocalist races at the ACMs and earned her first gold studio album since 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs.
All that can mostly be credited to the winning country comeback single that launched the project, though her next chart topper is just as good.
“Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That” gets an A.
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I like the summary of Parton’s savvy, but you barely talk about the actual song in question here.
That’s really helpful feedback. Thank you! I added another paragraph on the song itself. I definitely didn’t write enough about it!
With almost any other artist this song could be very gimmicky but Dolly pulls it off. A very fun record. White Limozeen may be one of her most underrated albums. Dolly does not always pull off the playful songs though. An example of a very bad one would be “Romeo” just a few years later.
I was annoyed at them not having Pam Tillis in the “Romeo” video back in the day, but now I’m kinda glad that that footage doesn’t exist. Cool that they all got Grammy nominations for it, though!
I almost feel like Dolly’s legacy wouldn’t have been complete if this song hadn’t showed up so late in her hitmaking years. After a decade going down an aggressive of a pop-country track as anyone in the business, she was overdue to return to her country roots and did so with exactly the kind of song she needs….a barnburner with spunk to spare. I’d never given much thought of it being a novelty song. The line on that can be pretty thin at times, and with Dolly’s persona being what it is, any song this playful runs the risk of becoming a punchline. I think she pulled it off though, her overdue pivot back to traditional country living up to expectations.
And while I remember her 1987-88 variety series, I’d forgotten that there was a pop-flavored album cross-marketed with it. Looking at her singles discography, everybody else forgot about it instantly as well.
Grade: A-
It is hysterical that many of the performers trying-out for the part in the song’s video can easily be visually associated with many of the male personalities and stars that would roll through Nashville in the coming decade(s).
This song was so unabashedly country,it sounded hick-ish and cornpone to my ears at the time, hillbilly even, both in spirit and sound.
Turns out it was simultaneously just deliriously silly and serious.
I didn’t quite know where to slot Dolly in terms of her artistry and legacy. I had only really known “pop star” Dolly who seemed to belong to Hollywood as much as Nashville.
I had no idea this song marked the return of the queen to country music.
Dolly Parton remains one of the greatest personal discoveries I made as a country fan.