On Dec. 1, NBC premiered a holiday musical called Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas. In the musical, Dolly Parton sings a song called “The Friendliest Enemy.” While on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Parton revealed what the pig Latin lyrics in “The Friendliest Enemy” actually mean.
Dolly Parton’s song ‘The Friendliest Enemy’ has lyrics in pig Latin
From a young age, Parton has had an interest in pig Latin. Parton discussed this interest during a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“I had learned pig Latin when I was in school,” Parton explained. “And I used to just, I would just beg my sisters, I’d do their chores, I’d do everything I could to get them to work up stuff with me. So I had the big idea to have background in pig Latin.”
Parton then explained how she came up with the song “The Friendliest Enemy.”
“So I’d written a song called ‘The Friendliest Enemy,’ like ‘She’s the friendliest enemy/ I believe ever did see.’”
The singer explained to Clarkson that the song includes the lyric “She’s my best friend” in pig Latin to convey the song’s message. To show how on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Parton sang part of the song while using her fingernails to make music.
“We did it on the show. And harmonies. My sisters Cassie and Rachel. And then I had a lot of my family on the show. So, we’re singing pig Latin,” Parton said.
Dolly Parton put on ‘Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas’
Parton’s musical Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas premiered on NBC on Dec. 1. In addition to Parton’s family appearing, multiple celebrities appeared during the holiday special as well.
According to Parton’s website, the holiday special features multiple stars, including “Jimmy Fallon, Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmie Allen, Zach Williams and Miley Cyrus, with actors Tom Everett Scott, Angel Parker and Ana Gasteyer.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Parton discussed the theme of the holiday musical.
“The whole theme of the show is, I’m wanting to go back home and do like a simple Smokey Mountain Christmas like I remember as a child. Well, of course, when Hollywood gets ahold of anything, it’s gonna get bigger and bigger,” Parton explained.
Two of the singer’s sisters appeared in ‘Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas’
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Parton shared what it was like to have her sisters and other family members join her in Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.
“They all write, they all sing. And so when we get together, that’s really what it is. I have five sisters, but I could only, as we say in the show, muster up two of them ’cause a couple are having a little bit of health issues at the moment and couldn’t do it,” Parton said.
She continued, “So I got Cassie and Rachel and we were singing our pig Latin song ’cause back when we were young, I used to make ’em work up all these background parts for songs that I wrote. So that was just a fun thing.”
On Dec. 31, Parton will co-host Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party with Miley Cyrus.
