Hello, God!

Dolly Parton’s “Hello God” offers Wole Olaoye a line for uncertain times: “Hello God, are you out there? Will you save us from the precipice like before?” For Nigerians looking toward the 2027 general elections, the song becomes a companion to what Olaoye calls the “apocalyptic” uncertainty surrounding the vote.

The column places Parton among musicians whose deaths marked the past 15 years. It recalls Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who died in 1997 after using Afrobeat and political lyrics as instruments of social emancipation, and Michael Jackson, whose death in 2009 came while he remained at the height of his fame. Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, B.B. King, Prince, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and others also appear in the writer’s roll call of notable losses.

Olaoye argues that Parton’s appeal reached across cultures and political divisions. He describes her as an artist who combined Christian faith, a folksy sense of fellowship and a lasting investment in youth. Over a career lasting more than six decades, she wrote an estimated 3,000 or more songs and officially recorded roughly 450 to 500 of her own compositions.

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Hello God, are you out there? Will you save us from the precipice like before?

Her best-known songs include “I Will Always Love You,” later made famous again by Whitney Houston, along with “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “9 to 5.” Parton entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, honoring her songwriting output.

The column’s strongest emphasis falls on Parton’s generosity. Founded in 1995 in honor of her father, her Imagination Library sends free books each month to children from birth to age five. The program has distributed more than 300 million books in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. In 2020, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, helping fund medical development.

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