To celebrate her 77th birthday on Jan. 19, Dolly Parton shared a new song, “Don’t Make Me Have To Come Down There.”
Videos by American Songwriter
“Somebody said, ‘What are you gonna get on your birthday?’” said Parton in a video posted on Instagram to announce the song. “I said, ‘I’m not gonna get, I’m gonna give.’ I’ve got a song that I’m dropping today on my birthday. It’s a song that came to me in a dream and I felt like it was worth putting out there. Something special. Well, it’s special to me.”
The song came to Parton in a dream where God spoke to her from atop a mountain. “I had a dream about God standing on a mountain, looking down on us, saying ‘Don’t make me have to come down there,’” shared Parton.
She added, “I got up. I started writing this song over a period of weeks, months. I finished it as things would come to me, and I just felt like I should drop it on my birthday. So, I hope you enjoy it.”
The acoustic-led song opens with Parton detailing her dream, along with some of the words God said to her, singing Don’t make me have to come down there / My children, you had best beware / If you don’t pay attention, consequences will be dire / Don’t make me have to come down there.
Parton continues Politics, earthquakes, erratic weather / Pandemics, war, and hate and sings Still, you’d rather turn a deaf ear, a blind eye / I am wondering whether I should take my Bible belt and whip you into shape on the bridge.
Featuring black and white cover art of the sun shining down, “Don’t Make Me Have To Come Down There” is Parton’s first single since the release of her Cheat Codes collaboration, “Bets On Us,” released earlier in January 2022 and her first solo track since “Silent Night” in 2022.
Earlier in 2022, Parton released her 48th studio album, Run, Rose, Run, along with an accompanying novel of the same name, which she co-wrote with James Patterson.
Photo: Will Russell/Getty Images
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