About The Song
Released on August 5, 1974, as the lead single and title track from her fourteenth solo studio album, “Love Is Like a Butterfly” became Dolly Parton’s third consecutive number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The album followed on September 16, 1974, through RCA Victor and was produced by Bob Ferguson at RCA Studio B in Nashville. The two-minute-22-second track was recorded on July 16, 1974, during a concentrated three-day session that also yielded the rest of the record’s ten original songs.
By the summer of 1974 Parton had already scored major solo successes with “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” from her previous album. Those back-to-back chart-toppers had come as she gradually stepped away from her long-running professional partnership with Porter Wagoner. The new release continued that momentum while showcasing her as a fully independent songwriter and performer, with the butterfly motif emerging as a fresh symbol for her evolving solo identity.
Parton drew the central image directly from her East Tennessee childhood. One of her favorite pastimes in the Smoky Mountains had been chasing colorful butterflies through the woods near her family’s cabin. She later explained in her 2020 book Songteller that she turned the gentle creature into a metaphor for the fluttery feeling of falling in love. “I think ‘Love Is Like a Butterfly’ is a very poetic, very descriptive, very innocent, and very flowery song,” she wrote. “It talks about being soft and gentle as a sigh, just like it feels when you are newly in love.”
The arrangement kept the focus on Parton’s clear, high soprano and simple acoustic backing. Guitar, bass, drums, steel guitar, and background vocals from The Lea Jane Singers supported the vocal without heavy orchestration. This light, flowing production matched the song’s delicate theme and stood in contrast to the more dramatic ballads that had defined some of her earlier hits.
The single climbed to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 9, 1974, after debuting at number 87. It spent twelve weeks on the survey and also reached number 38 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. The album itself peaked at number seven on the Top Country Albums chart and number one on the Cashbox country albums list, confirming the strength of Parton’s solo catalog at the time.
Starting in 1976 the song served as the opening theme for Parton’s syndicated television variety series Dolly!, which ran for one season. It became widely regarded as her signature song in the years before her pop crossover with “Here You Come Again” in 1977. The butterfly image stayed with her long afterward; she incorporated it as the stylized “W” in the signage for Dollywood, and fans have continued to send her butterfly-themed gifts for decades.
Over time the track illustrated Parton’s skill at turning personal childhood memories into universal country statements. Its quiet elegance helped bridge her mountain roots with the broader audience she was building, remaining a staple in her live sets and a reminder of the period when her solo career first took full flight.
Video
Lyric
Love is like a butterfly (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)
I feel it when you’re with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feelin’ that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle (oh-oh)
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you, I think of butterflies
Love is like a butterfly (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)
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 (ooh)
How very precious, sweet and rare
Together we belong like daffodils and butterflies
Love is like a butterfly (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)
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing
(Love is like a butterfly)