This surprisingly touching Holiday tune started life as a “goodbye song” sung by the ladies at a brothel after it was shut down.

“Hard Candy Christmas” was written by Carol Hall for the Broadway musical “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and was carried over into the 1982 film starring Dolly Parton,  Burt Reynolds. Dom DeLuise, Charles Durning and Jim Nabors.

The song originally gave each of the girls a short solo as they tell each other their uncertain plans for the future, while Dolly (as Miss Mona, the Madame of the “Chicken Ranch”) consoles them, and professes that she’ll be “fine and dandy,”comparing the situation to a “Hard Candy Christmas: a reference to the type of inexpensive gifts given during tough economic times.

A beautiful solo version of “Hard Candy Christmas” by Dolly reached #8 on Billboard’s Country Chart during the Holiday season of 1982-83, and has since become a Christmas standard in all formats.

The setting for “Hard Candy Christmas” may be somewhat questionable for a Holiday song, but thanks to Dolly Parton, “Hard Candy Christmas” became a Great Song of 1982-83, that continues to be Great 43 years later.

Dolly & the Girls:

— Mike Cook