‘Counting 1 To 5’: Dolly Parton reimagines classic track for appearance on Wiggles country album

Dolly Parton and The Wiggles have released ‘Counting 1 To 5’, a reimagination of the country icon’s classic song – listen below.

• READ MORE: The Wiggles – ‘ReWiggled’ review: Stella Donnelly, Spacey Jane and more pitch in for a sunny yet strange covers album

The track is part of the children’s group’s upcoming album ‘Wiggle Up, Giddy Up!’, which is set to be released on March 7, and also features contributions from Orville Peck, Lainey Wilson, Dasha and others.

The video for ‘Counting 1 To 5’ was released on Thursday (February 20) and it sees the group interpolating the familiar melody of Parton’s 1980 hit ‘9 To 5’ while singing: “Counting one to five / Yes, today that’s what you’re learning / You just use your mind, you don’t ever need to sweat it / When you’re counting, there really is no limit”.

Watch the video here:

In addition to ‘Counting 1 To 5’, The Wiggles have also recorded three other Parton compositions on the new album – ‘Friends!’ is a new song featuring Parton on lead vocals, as is ‘We Will Always Be Friends’, while they have also recorded a cover of ‘Love Is Like A Butterfly’.

“Well, I just wiggled my way out into the Wiggles’ world!” Parton said in a statement. “I had so much fun being a part of this project, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.”

Speaking about the album, the Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field, said “This is one of the most exciting projects we’ve ever been a part of, in fact, I’ve never spent so much time on an album before.”

“Country music is all about storytelling and connection,” he continued. “Combining that with The Wiggles’ fun and imagination and collaborations with these legendary country music artists felt like the perfect match.”

It’s not the first time The Wiggles have ventured into new genres. In May last year, they topped the Australian dance music chart with ‘The Wiggles Soundsystem: Rave of Innocence’, an album of rave remixes. It outranked releases from bigger artists such as Sia and Rufus du Sol in the charts.

Elsewhere, Parton just featured on a new version of Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Please Please Please’ for the deluxe edition of Carpenter’s ‘Short n’ Sweet’ album. “Dolly and me singing in a pickup truck!!!!!!” Carpenter wrote on social media while sharing the revamped track. “I am so honoured to have one of my biggest idols on a song that means so much to me. ‘Short n’ Sweet’ deluxe is out now! Go watch and listen!!!!”

A Parton musical in Manchester was also recently suspended mid-show after an audience member spewed homophobic abuse during the performance.

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