It’s been a whirlwind year filled with illness, isolation, political strife and unprecedented stresses across the globe, but according to one reassuring voice, there’s hope on the horizon.
Dolly Parton just released a bonus track from her new holiday album, “A Holly Dolly Christmas,” and the lyrics from the single sound like a musical balm for the aches and pains of 2020.
“Even though we're walking through the valley of death / Scared and wondering what happens next / Uncertainty, division, anger, and unrest / I still believe,” the 74-year-old singer-songwriter belts on the ballad. “Questions of what and why and when / What is it, what happened, when will it end? / These are strange and crazy times that we're living in / But I still believe.”
As for exactly what she believes, Parton covers that in the inspirational chorus.
“I believe to my very core / We'll walk again in the sunshine / By the seashore / That we'll dance and we'll sing / And be happy again,” she continues on the recording, “Don't know how or when, but we will again / You'll see / I still believe.”
The song captures a sentiment that's similar to one she recently shared on Sunday TODAY.
"I think we've just become so divided, because people just seem to love to hate. You know?" she said. "This is the Christmas season coming up, but we need to carry that Christmas spirit of peace on Earth and loving one another. We need to carry that into the new year," Parton said. "And Lord knows, I hope next year is better than this one."
Her almost four-minute song addresses that and speaks about unmasking “this face of doom” and looking forward to a day when we can all “walk hand in hand” again. And the responses to it on social media seem to prove that “I Still Believe” is the right message at just the right time.
“Such a beautiful song,” one fan tweeted to the star. “I am in tears. This is what we need to hear right now. We need to keep believing.”
Another wrote, “I still believe too @DollyParton. We’ll dance and sing and be happy again!”
And in the comments that accompany the song on YouTube, one fan added, “Thank you Dolly. That is the message of hope our world needs. This song should be on the play list of every radio station.”
This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that people have taken a moment to sing the praises of Dolly Parton. Just last month, biotech company Moderna revealed the promising results from its coronavirus vaccine trails — and the “Jolene” singer helped fund that research by donating $1 million to cause.
Or as one enthusiastic supporter put it on Twitter at the time, "I want everyone to know that Dolly Parton gave us Buffy the tv series, the song 9 to 5, Dollywood, and of course the Covid vaccine."
"I'm just happy that anything I do can help somebody else, and when I donated the money to the Covid fund, I just wanted it to do good,” she told TODAY during a November visit. “Evidently, it is. Let's just hope we find a cure real soon."