“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.”
Introduction
When I stumbled upon “The Love You Gave,” I felt like I’d uncovered a secret note from a teenage Dolly Parton, pouring out gratitude and hope in her pure, crystalline voice. At just 16 years old, she recorded this tune with the Merry Melody Singers as the B-side of her first major-label single “It’s Sure Gonna Hurt” in 1962. Even if it never climbed the charts, the song brims with the promise of the superstar she would become—and it still gives me chills every time I listen.
Before “Jolene” and “9 to 5” made her a household name, Dolly was a country kid from rural Tennessee, writing her first songs at age seven and playing on local radio by age ten. In 1962, Mercury Records signed Dolly and her uncle Bill Owens; they cut “It’s Sure Gonna Hurt” backed with “The Love You Gave” under the name “Dolly Parton with the Merry Melody Singers.” Though the single didn’t chart, it captured Dolly’s early songwriting spark and her uncanny ability to make every lyric feel like a personal letter to a friend.
What strikes me most is the simplicity: gentle piano chords, harmonized backing vocals, and Dolly’s earnest delivery. Lines about giving one’s heart and finding strength in someone else’s kindness resonate especially now, when we all crave connection. Listening feels like curling up on a porch swing with Dolly herself, as she confides hopes and thanks in that warm Appalachian drawl. It reminds us that even legends began with small, heartfelt steps.
Though overlooked at release, “The Love You Gave” foreshadows themes Dolly would revisit throughout her career—love as sustenance, gratitude as song, resilience born from tenderness. It’s a snapshot of an artist in bloom, and hearing it today feels like reading old diary entries that still pulse with truth. For fans and newcomers alike, this track offers a touching window into Dolly’s foundational years.
Video
Lyrics
Sweet, sweet were the lips that kissed me
Warm, warm were the arms that held me
Sweet, sweet were the lips, yeah
Warm, warm were the arms
But so, so filled with the love you gave me
Wet, wet were the tears on my face
Long, long were the hours I cried them
Wet, wet were the tears, yeah
Long, long were the hours
But so, so filled with the love you gave me
My friends tried to tell me
That mis’ry would a-happen to me
But back in school I didn’t believe
That misery and pain a-would-a ever get to me, oh
Since, since you’ve been gone, gone away
I cry, cry lonely teardrops night and day
Since, since you’ve been gone, yeah
I cry, I cry lonely teardrops
All so, so filled with the love you gave me
Sweet, sweet were the lips that kissed me
Warm, warm were the arms that held me