To Daddy

"To Daddy" is a country song, written by Dolly Parton. It was performed by Emmylou Harris in the 1970s, included on her album Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town and released as a single. Having reached number three on Billboard's Hot Country chart, Harris's version is the most familiar to most people.

Content

To Daddy is said to describe the pain Parton's mother experienced as she ignored her husband's occasional affairs and his lack of affection.^[2] It relates to how her mother, in having the family's best interest at heart and to be the best possible mother she could to her children, that she stood by her husband through difficult times. (Unlike Parton's parents, however, who remained together, the mother in the song ultimately leaves the family.)

In the song, related from the vantage point of a teenage girl, her mother seems to not care that her husband is neglectful and cold, concluding each verse with, "if she did, she never did say so to Daddy". In the final verse, however, the family members wake one morning to find a note in which their mother confesses that she stayed for as long as she had because her children needed her, but now that they are getting older and don't need her as much, she's left to search for the love and affection that she never received from her husband.

Critical reception

In 1979, shortly after Emmylou Harris covered the song, the Teenager described the song as "being like an O. Henry short story".^[3] Billboard called it "a fine interpretation".^[4]

Harris's rendition of the song appears on her album Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. Released as a single in 1977, it peaked at number 3 on the Billboard country singles charts.^[1] It was also a Number One single on the RPM Country Tracks charts in Canada.

Harris' recording of the song was included on the 2003 tribute album Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton.

Other versions

Parton's own rendition of the song, recorded in 1976, was intended to appear on her All I Can Do album, but was ultimately not included on the album; the recording later appeared on her 1995 compilation "The Essential Dolly Parton One".

Chart positions

Chart (1977–1978)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles^[1]	3
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100^[1]	2
Canadian RPM Country Tracks^[5]	1

References

1 2 3 4 Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 181. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
↑ Melton Alonza McLaurin and Richard A. Peterson (1992). You wrote my life: lyrical themes in country music. Taylor & Francis. p. 103. ISBN 2-88124-554-4.
↑ Volume 10. Teenager. p. 111.
↑ "Single reviews". Billboard. November 26, 1977. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
↑ "RPM Country Tracks for March 11, 1978". RPM. Retrieved 18 September 2010.

Preceded by "You're the One" by The Oak Ridge Boys	RPM Country Tracks number-one single March 11, 1978	Succeeded by "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

Emmylou Harris

Studio albums	Gliding Bird Pieces of the Sky Elite Hotel Luxury Liner Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town Blue Kentucky Girl Light of the Stable Roses in the Snow Evangeline Cimarron White Shoes The Ballad of Sally Rose Thirteen Angel Band Bluebird Brand New Dance Cowgirl's Prayer Wrecking Ball Red Dirt Girl Stumble into Grace All I Intended to Be Hard Bargain

Collaboration albums	Trio (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) Trio II (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions (with Linda Ronstadt) All the Roadrunning (with Mark Knopfler) Old Yellow Moon (with Rodney Crowell) The Traveling Kind (with Rodney Crowell)

Live albums	Last Date At the Ryman (with The Nash Ramblers) Spyboy

Compilation albums	Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris Her Best Songs Profile II: The Best of Emmylou Harris Duets Songs of the West Portraits Singin' with Emmylou, Vol. 1 Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Records The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches & Highways Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems

Video albums	Live at the Ryman Spyboy: Live from the Legendary Exit/In Real Live Roadrunning (with Mark Knopfler)

Notable singles	"If I Could Only Win Your Love" "Together Again" "One of These Days" "Sweet Dreams" "(You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie" "Making Believe" "To Daddy" "Two More Bottles of Wine" "Save the Last Dance for Me" "Blue Kentucky Girl" "Beneath Still Waters" "Wayfaring Stranger" "The Boxer" "Mister Sandman" "If I Needed You" (with Don Williams) "Tennessee Rose" "Born to Run" "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date" "I'm Movin' On" "So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad" "In My Dreams" "Pledging My Love" "Heartbreak Hill" "Heaven Only Knows" "I Still Miss Someone"

Collaboration singles	"To Know Him Is to Love Him" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Telling Me Lies" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Those Memories of You" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Wildflowers" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt)

Guest singles	"Thing About You" (with Southern Pacific) "We Believe in Happy Endings" (with Earl Thomas Conley)

Discographies	Discography Solo contributions Collaborations A–F Collaborations G–K Collaborations L–Q Collaborations R–Z

Related articles	Reprise Records Warner Bros. Records Roy Orbison John Denver Gram Parsons Daniel Lanois Rodney Crowell Desire The Last Waltz

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