Jolene

That guitar starts and the argument almost feels over. “Jolene” is Dolly at her most desperate and magnetic: no revenge fantasy, no big showdown, just one woman pleading with another not to take the man she loves. It’s lean, tense and ridiculously easy to sing along with. But being the song everybody knows also puts a target on it. Does “Jolene” really beat the emotional punch of “I Will Always Love You” or the storytelling of “Coat of Many Colors”? If it’s the Dolly song you’d never vote against, prove it.