Okay, it has nothing to do with “SJI,” but in the spirit of taking apart a single song that’s been covered many times, NPR has a fairly delightlful little feature on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” And of course they can do what we can’t with “SJI,” which is speak directly to the song’s writer.
I was particularly interested in the point made by Ms. Parton about the song’s simplicity — it’s only like 200 words — being the key to the beguiling nature of Jolene (the character).
There’s also a set of links to YouTube videos of various performances of the tune.
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
