Most people forget that Dolly Parton was barely a teenager when she released her first single, “Puppy Love“. Out on May 6, 1959, Parton was just 13 years old when she released the sweet, innocent song, which she wrote with her uncle, Bill Owens.
“Puppy Love” says, “O, puppy love, puppy love / They all call it puppy love / I’m old enough now to kiss and hug / And I like it, it’s puppy love / Oh, you pull my pigtails, makes me mad / When you kiss me, makes me glad / Sometimes you even make me sad / Still, you’re the sweetest sweetheart I’ve ever had.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Although “Puppy Love” did not get national distribution, the song was played on local East Tennessee radio stations.
“I remember the first time I heard myself on the radio, about killed myself,” Parton recalls in her Songteller book, adding that she was sitting on the counter when it happened. “The radio was on. I jumped off the counter and slid and fell trying to get to the radio to turn it up.”
In 2024, Parton debuted a new version of “Puppy Love” 65 years after it was first released.
What Happened to Dolly Parton After the Release of “Puppy Love”?
“Puppy Love” may not have been a massive hit on the radio across the country. But it did give Parton enough taste of success to know that she wanted more, and a lot more. Three years after the release of “Puppy Love”, Parton released both “So Little I Wanted, So Little I Got”, a duet with Owens, and “It’s Sure Gonan Hurt”, a collaboration with The Merry Melody Singers.
In 1964, Parton dropped “What Do You Think About Lovin’”. And in 1965, Parton had her first charting single, with “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby”.
Parton released a total of seven singles before the release of her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. The second single from the record, “Dumb Blonde” was written by Curly Putnam and also became Parton’s first Top 25 single.
After “Dumb Blonde”, Parton released “Something Fishy”. Her first Top 20 single, it’s also Parton’s first big hit as a songwriter, since she wrote “Something Fishy” herself.
“[I] was probably trying to think of something commercial,” Parton says of writing “Something Fishy”.
Although Parton had other hit singles, it wasn’t until 1970 that Parton had her first No. 1 hit, with “Joshua”. The title track of Parton’s seventh studio album, Parton penned “Joshua” by herself. Three years later, in 1973, Parton had her second No. 1 hit, with “Jolene”.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns