The Bargain Store (song)
song written and composed by Dolly Parton, originally recorded by Dolly Parton and released in 1975
"The Bargain Store" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was released in January 1975 as the first single and title track from the album The Bargain Store. The song was Parton's fifth number one on the country chart as a solo artist. The song stayed at number one for a single week and spent nine weeks on the country chart.
Content
Worn, second-hand merchandise in a discount store is used as a metaphor for a woman emotionally damaged by an ill-fated relationship. The song was dropped from a number of country stations' playlists when programmers mistook the line "you can easily afford the price" as a thinly veiled reference to prostitution.
“The Bargain Store (song)” enters the record as song written and composed by Dolly Parton, originally recorded by Dolly Parton and released in 1975. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bargain, Store and song can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Bargain Store (song)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bargain, Store and song provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3374726. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1975.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Bargain Store (song)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Bargain Store (song) primary sources, The Bargain Store (song) archive and Bargain research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Bargain Store (song)”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Bargain Store (song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.