About The Song
“Love Is Like a Butterfly” is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was released on August 5, 1974, by RCA Victor as the first single and title track from her fourteenth solo studio album of the same name, which was issued on September 16, 1974. The track was recorded on July 16, 1974, at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Bob Ferguson. The original recording has a length of approximately 2 minutes and 22 seconds and is classified in the country genre. The B-side of the single was “Sacred Memories.”
The song was composed by Parton during the period following her professional separation from longtime collaborator Porter Wagoner. It became her third consecutive number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, following “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” and her fourth overall solo number-one country hit. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated August 31, 1974, at number 87. It reached number one on the chart dated November 9, 1974, holding the top position for one week, and remained on the chart for a total of 12 to 17 weeks according to contemporaneous tracking. It also peaked at number 2 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart, number 38 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number 5 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart (equivalent to position 105 on the extended Hot 100). The single additionally reached number one on the Cashbox Country Singles chart.
The parent album Love Is Like a Butterfly peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and number 1 on the Cashbox Country Albums chart. It charted for 23 weeks on the Billboard country albums ranking. The song received a BMI Country Award in 1975. Personnel on the recording included Dolly Parton on vocals, Jimmy Colvard, Dave Kirby, Bruce Osbon, and Bobby Thompson on guitars, Bobby Dyson on bass, Larrie Londin on drums, Jerry Smith on piano, Stu Basore on steel guitar, and The Lea Jane Singers on background vocals.
Parton has described the composition in her 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics as drawing from her childhood interest in butterflies in the mountains of East Tennessee, using the insect as a comparison for the characteristics of new love. The track served as the opening theme song for her syndicated television variety series Dolly!, which aired in 1976–1977; Parton performed it at the start of each episode while being lowered on a swing. The butterfly motif associated with the song later appeared in the branding of her Dollywood theme park, where a butterfly forms the letter “W” in the park’s logo. A version of the song performed by Clare Torry was used as the theme for the BBC sitcom Butterflies, which ran from 1978 to 1983.
The single marked one of Parton’s early post-Wagoner releases and contributed to a sequence of consecutive country chart-toppers that included “The Bargain Store” in 1975. Chart documentation from Billboard confirms the November 9, 1974, number-one peak and the multi-week run on the Hot Country Songs chart. The album’s release in September 1974 followed the single by approximately six weeks. Session records place the primary tracking date as July 16, 1974, within a broader recording period of June–July 1974 for the album. Trade publications such as Billboard and Cashbox issued positive reviews of the single upon its August 1974 release.
Subsequent uses of the song include its appearance in Parton’s live performances and compilations. In 2012, Parton performed a duet version with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report. A 50th-anniversary version was released in 2024. The original recording has been included on various greatest-hits collections and continues to generate catalog activity. Formal recognition is limited to the BMI award and the documented chart peaks; no major Grammy or CMA awards were attached specifically to the single in contemporary accounts.
Primary sources including Billboard chart archives, RCA Victor release documentation, and Parton’s own published accounts establish the release timeline, recording details, commercial performance, and later applications of the track. The song’s position as the third consecutive solo number-one followed directly after the chart success of the Jolene album singles. Production remained under Bob Ferguson, consistent with Parton’s RCA work of the mid-1970s. These elements form the verified historical record of the song’s creation, release, chart trajectory, and subsequent institutional and media uses from 1974 onward.
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Lyric
Love is like a butterfly As soft and gentle as a sigh The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings Love makes your heart feel strange inside It flutters like soft wings in flight Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing I feel it when you're with me It happens when you kiss me That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside Your touch is soft and gentle Your kiss is warm and tender Whenever I am with you, I think of butterflies Love is like a butterfly As soft and gentle as a sigh The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings Love makes your heart feel strange inside It flutters like soft wings in flight Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing Your laughter brings me sunshine Every day is springtime And I am only happy when you are by my side How precious is this love we share How very precious, sweet and rare Together we belong like daffodils and butterflies Love is like a butterfly As soft and gentle as a sigh The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings Love makes your heart feel strange inside It flutters like soft wings in flight Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing