One of Dolly Parton's favorite pastimes growing up in the mountains in East Tennessee was chasing colorful butterflies through the woods. When she wrote the title track to her 14th solo album, she used the gentle creature as a metaphor for the fluttery feeling of a falling in love. "I think 'Love Is Like a Butterfly' is a very poetic, very descriptive, very innocent, and very flowery song," she shared in her 2020 book, Songteller. "It talks about being soft and gentle as a sigh, just like it feels when you are newly in love."
Around this time, Dolly's solo career was also soaring like a butterfly. This single became her third out of four consecutive Country chart-toppers. Her previous album, Jolene, yielded the first two #1s: "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You."
Dolly's success validated her decision to leave her longtime partnership with Porter Wagoner, who had brought her on to co-host his TV show in 1967 and recorded a string of hit duet albums with her. He continued to act as her producer for a couple more years (along with Bob Ferguson at RCA), but she completely cut professional ties with him in 1976.
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