Dolly Parton knows a thing or two about sad songs. A prolific songwriter herself, she has authored her share of tearjerkers that have weepy listeners quickly reaching for their hankies. But one of her own tunes seems to stand out to Parton as particularly melancholy. Per Showbiz Cheat Sheet via Dolly by Alanna Nash, the country music superstar once introduced this song to her audience as "pitiful." You can imagine how strongly she must have felt to use that word!
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Parton shared with the crowd, "I want to do a song for you now that's also kinda special to me. You know, a lot of the songs that I write are sad, and some of 'em are just plumb pitiful, and I think this might be one of them."
Many chuckled at that comment. But she soon had them crying as they listened to her rendition of the song, "Me and Little Andy." They were overcome with genuine, heartbreaking emotion. No one is as expert at conjuring up passionate emotion through song as Dolly Parton. That is what has made her a true legend for decades.
What Was 'Me And Little Andy' Based On?
The 1977 song is about a little girl and her dog who appear on the narrator's doorstep in a fierce storm. Her mother ran off and her dad is a drinker, so she pleads for someplace safe and dry to stay with her pooch. Sadly, both of them pass away overnight. It's easy to understand why people's eyes get moist at the thought of such a calamity taking these two innocent, vulnerable lives. Dolly Parton surely communicates the anguish of this tragedy.
Per the outlet via the book Dolly on Dolly, she explained, "Well, I sorta linked it to some kids back home where their mama was pretty wild and their daddy was a drunkard. They're just as poor as we were and as big of family as we had. They used to kinda hang around our house a lot and mama always kinda took 'em in. But it wasn't like the exact story, but it was because of that, in the back of my mind."
She is aware that the song has a potent effect on folks. "It's sad, boy. When I do it on stage I look out in the audience and see 'bout five or six people just a-slinging tears and that other stuff they sling. And sometimes when I'm singing' it, I sling some of it myself!"
Sometimes Audience Members Just Can't Handle The Sorrow Overload That Song Packs
Parton wrote, "I remember once we were in Las Vegas, and I had [that song] in my act. This guy in the audience hollered out, 'Don't sing that [expletive] song in a nightclub!! It's bad enough that the kid died! Did you have to kill the damn dog, too?"
