Rambling Rhoads: 2026-08-23

As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Dolly Parton

My favorite Dolly Parton anecdote comes from the excellent obituary at CNN.com:

In 1974, she even turned down Elvis Presley when he wanted to cover “I Will Always Love You,” because his manager Colonel Tom Parker wanted a stake in the publishing rights. “This is my publishing company, and obviously this is going to be one of my most important copyrights, and I can’t give you half the publishing,” she remembered saying. “Because that’s stuff that I’m leaving for my family.”

Personal favorites:

Jolene

To Know Him Is To Love Him [with Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris]

I Will Always Love You

World On Fire

Coat Of Many Colors

9 To 5

I Dreamed About Elvis

Stairway To Heaven [from the album Halos & Horns]

Rockstar

Here You Come Again