Dolly Parton’s new song “World on Fire” is about as political as the Queen of Country gets. The song cries against politicians who can’t be trusted and calls for peace across party lines. Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of the song reflected against the country superstar’s past political statements.
“World on Fire” is on Parton’s new rock album, Rockstar. While she famously stays out of all things political, the song is a reflection on the current state of contentious American politics.
“Liar, liar the world’s on fire/ Whatcha gonna do when it all burns down?” The song begins.
The next line is perhaps the closest thing we’ll get to a comment about climate change from the singer: “Fire, fire burning higher/ Still got time to turn it all around.” But it’s not explicit. Just as easily as someone could say the lines are an illusion to the climate crisis, which is said to hit a critical point by 2030 if nothing is done, someone could argue they’re just a statement about the current general hell-like state of American politics. It’s no surprise that Parton doesn’t say anything explicit about climate change in the song—she keeps her political views close to her chest and climate change is a divisive topic.
Parton hasn’t spoken directly about climate change, but she did do an interview with National Geographic in 2022 where she spoke about the importance of caring for Mother Earth.
“We should pay more attention,” she said. “We’re just mistreating Mother Nature—that’s like being ugly to your mama… We need to take better care of the things that God gave us freely. And that we’re so freely messing up.”
In “World on Fire,” the singer goes on to criticize politicians with the lines: “Don’t get me started on politics/ Now how are we to live in a world like this/ Greedy politicians, present and past/ They wouldn’t know the truth if it bit ‘em in the a**.”
This isn’t the first time Parton has spoken about her distrust of politicians.
“I’m just saying, good Lord, what are these people doing? Crazy. They don’t care about us,” she told USA Today in 2020. “…I don’t care if that’s Bush or Clinton or Obama or Trump or Biden or whoever it may be. They need to think more about the people instead of about the party.”
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Parton also sings of “the great divide,” seemingly between democrats and republicans.
“Have we all lost sight of common decency?/ Of the wrong and right?/ How do we heal this great divide?/ Do we care enough to try?”
These lines suggest that “the great divide” is what we still have time to turn around before “it all burns down.”
Parton goes on to sing: “Billy got a gun, Joey got a knife/ Janey got a sign to carry in the fight/ Marching in the streets with sticks and stones/ Don’t you ever believe words don’t break bones,” which seems to put Janey, who is protesting for human rights we can assume, on the same level on Billy with a gun and Joey with a knife because words “break bones.” To Parton, it’s all adding to the chaos of American politics. Both violence and the protest to the violence.
The song crescendos in typical Parton fashion—with love as the call to action.
“Let’s make a stand/ Let’s lend a hand/ Let’s heal the hurt/ Let kindness work/ Let’s be a friend/ Let hatred end.”
It’s a message that’s consistent with Parton’s personal philosophy.
“If we could just be peaceful, if we could just try to work through things with a little more peace, a little more love, a little more harmony, a little more understanding,” she told USA Today in the same 2020 interview. “I pray about it every day.”
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