About The Song
“The Bargain Store” is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was released on January 13, 1975, by RCA Victor as the lead single and title track from her fifteenth solo studio album of the same name. The album itself followed on February 17, 1975. The track runs approximately 2 minutes and 42 seconds in length and falls within the country genre.
Recording for the single took place on December 3 or 4, 1974, at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. The album sessions overall spanned December 1974 into early 1975 at the same facility. Bob Ferguson is credited as producer on the single. For the full album, production credits list Bob Ferguson and Porter Wagoner. The B-side of the single was another Parton original, “I’ll Never Forget,” recorded on December 11, 1974.
The song employs a direct metaphor in which worn, second-hand merchandise found in a discount or bargain store stands for a woman left emotionally damaged by a previous relationship. Key lines compare the narrator’s life and heart to used goods that remain functional and valuable with some care. Parton has stated that the comparison centers on a broken heart that can still offer value rather than any other interpretation.
Despite the clarity of the metaphor to the songwriter, a number of country radio stations removed the single from their playlists. Programmers interpreted the line “you can easily afford the price” as a reference to prostitution. The reduction in airplay did not prevent commercial success. In her 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, Parton addressed the misreading directly: she affirmed that the song concerned a broken relationship and a heart that could be mended, not any vulgar meaning. She noted that the phrase about slightly used merchandise with a little mending was intended to describe prior romantic experience and residual capacity for love.
Chart performance confirmed the track’s strength. It debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated January 25, 1975. It reached number 1 on the chart dated March 29, 1975, holding the top position for one week. Sources list its total time on the country chart between nine and thirteen weeks. On the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart it peaked at number 35. In Canada it reached number 3 on the RPM Country Tracks chart. It also topped the Cashbox Country Singles chart.
The single marked Parton’s fifth number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart as a solo artist. It completed a run of four consecutive country number-one singles that began with “Jolene” in 1973–1974 and continued through “I Will Always Love You” and “Love Is Like a Butterfly.” The parent album The Bargain Store peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and number 4 on the Cashbox Country Albums chart. It remained on the Billboard country albums chart for 23 weeks after debuting at number 28.
The album consists largely of Parton compositions. It also includes a cover of Merle Haggard’s “You’ll Always Be Special to Me.” Haggard later recorded Parton’s “Kentucky Gambler,” which appears on the same album. “The Bargain Store” received a BMI Country Award in 1976. In the same year Parton was named Female Vocalist of the Year by the Country Music Association.
Musical and lyrical details have drawn specific comment. The opening line “My life is like unto a bargain store” uses the archaic “unto.” When asked by Mojo magazine in 2008 whether the word choice added biblical weight or simply supplied an extra syllable, Parton replied that she selected it deliberately because she favored an old-timey sound that fit the minor-key arrangement.
The song has appeared in later media. It features in the Netflix series Stranger Things, season 1 episode “The Monster,” during a sequence in which characters gather supplies. Official audio versions remain available on the Dolly Parton YouTube channel and major streaming platforms. The original single and album have been reissued in various compilations and digital formats, including a 2013 digital release of the full album that made several tracks newly accessible outside the original vinyl, cassette, and 8-track editions.
Contemporary trade coverage treated the release as a strong commercial prospect. A Cashbox review dated January 25, 1975, described the song as one in which Parton likens life to a bargain store where love is the only currency required and predicted it would become her first number-one single of the year. AllMusic later assigned the album a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. The combination of Parton’s songwriting, the production at RCA Studio B, and the chart results established “The Bargain Store” as a documented high point in her mid-1970s solo output.
Personnel associated with the recording include session musicians typical of Nashville country sessions of the period. Credits drawn from later reissues list guitarists such as Jimmy Colvard, Bruce Osbon, and Bobby Thompson; steel guitar by John Hughey; bass by Bobby Dyson; drums by Larrie Londin; piano by Jerry Whitehurst; and background vocals by the Lea Jane Singers. These details align with standard RCA Nashville practices of the era under Ferguson and Wagoner.
In summary, “The Bargain Store” stands as a self-written Parton single released in January 1975 that reached the top of the Billboard country chart, generated radio controversy over a misread lyric, and formed the title track of a top-ten country album. Primary sources including Billboard chart data, Parton’s own later statements in Songteller, BMI award records, and contemporary trade reviews provide the factual foundation for its place in her catalog.
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Lyric
My life is like unto a bargain store
And I may have just what you’re looking for
If you don’t mind the fact that all the merchandise is used
But with a little mending, it could be as good as newWhy, you take, for instance, this old broken heart
If you will just replace the missing parts
You would be surprised to find how good it really is
Take it and you never will be sorry that you didThe bargain store is open, come inside
You can easily afford the price
Love is all you need to purchase all the merchandise
And I can guarantee you’ll be completely satisfiedTake these old, used memories from the past
And these broken dreams and plans that didn’t last
I’ll trade them for a future, I can’t use them anymore
I’ve wasted love, but I still have some moreThe bargain store is open, come inside
You can easily afford the price
Love is all you need to purchase all the merchandise
And I can guarantee you’ll be completely satisfiedMy life is like unto a bargain store
And I may have just what you’re looking for
If you don’t mind the fact that all the merchandise is used
But with a little mending, it could be as good as newThe bargain store is open, come inside
The bargain store is open, come inside