Surf Digby

Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. What an absolute double kick in the bollocks reading those headlines were. I think I first saw Tim in The Worst Witch, but it was Frank N. Furter that made an indelible impression on my 13 year old brain. A friend of mine (with somewhat more liberal parents than mine) had put the Rocky Horror Picture Show on while at his house and it was like nothing of seen before. I didn't get all the way to the end before I had to go home for dinner (where I immediately dug out my mum's Meat Loaf album). I was probably about 20 when I purchased my own copy of the film (paying that extra £1 for the widescreen edition, as was the fashion at the time), and with older ears, I realised that all the whackiness couldn't hide just how brilliant he was when he sung I'm Going Home. It's that special chemistry of a great song, with the perfect performance and production. The same friend also showed me The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I was well aware of Dolly Parton, but I was off the age where I was more focused on the tits and Burt Reynolds being hilarious. (Typing this, I've just realised that I was doing the "hold your hat sideways and turn your head into it" thing outside the restaurant, about 30 minutes before we saw the news about Dolly!). Back in April 1993, I was a long haired, denim clad, heavy metal listening 17 year old, and if been to see my friend's first gig. Afterwards we all went back to the converted garage that was their rehearsal space and drank irresponsibly. In the early hours of the morning, we took a walk down to the 24 hour petrol station because we wanted snacks and cigarettes. For reasons I don't remember, I was barefoot. While others were being served, I was looking through the CD rack, and in amongst them was a Best of Dolly Parton type compilation. For whatever reason this one caught my attention, and I started reading the inlay booklet, which had a mini-biography of Dolly, and it was here that I learned that (at the time) she'd written over 2500 songs. Considering how I was fascinated with how prolific Prince and Frank Zappa were, this elevated Dolly in my estimations of her, and I started looking into her work. Purely from a musical standpoint, she was an amazing woman. Ridiculously talented, wonderfully selfless, and with an almost British self-depreciating sense of humour. When you consider what she was up against in her early career, and somehow successfully kept control of her publishing, it's clear that beneath the big hair, big smile and big boobs, the biggest thing of all were her balls.