About The Song
Released on March 16, 1981, as the second single from Dolly Parton’s album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, “But You Know I Love You” became her next country chart-topper after the massive success of the title track. The album itself had arrived on November 17, 1980, through RCA Victor and was produced primarily by Mike Post, with the three-minute-17-second track appearing as the eighth cut. It featured “Poor Folks’ Town” on the B-side and formed part of a concept project built around songs about working life, following Parton’s starring role in the hit film 9 to 5.
By late 1980 Parton was riding high from her pop-crossover breakthrough and film debut. The album marked a return to a more roots-oriented sound after several polished pop-country releases, blending covers of folk and country classics with new material. Recorded across studios in Hollywood, Nashville, and Los Angeles between April and September 1980, the project stayed at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for ten consecutive weeks and earned gold certification.
The song originated as a 1969 pop hit for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, written by group member Mike Settle. Parton had already been performing it in her Las Vegas shows when Post, who had produced the original version, suggested she record it for the new album. Post and Parton had first crossed paths years earlier as guests on television, and his recommendation fit perfectly with the album’s working-people theme about the strains of travel on relationships.
The single debuted on the charts in April 1981 and climbed to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of June 20. It spent one week at the top and finished the year at number six on the country year-end list. It also reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on the Adult Contemporary survey, and number two on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart, adding modest crossover appeal.
In the lyrics the narrator speaks directly to a partner left behind by constant travel, whether as a musician, salesperson, or anyone on the road. Verses acknowledge the loneliness and distance while repeating the simple reassurance of the title. The message captures quiet acceptance rather than complaint, framing separation as the unavoidable cost of making a living. This everyday perspective aligned with the album’s focus on ordinary workers and resonated with audiences familiar with life on the move.
Post’s production kept the arrangement acoustic and supportive, letting Parton’s warm delivery carry the emotion without heavy orchestration. Critics singled out the bridge, where her voice rises with each line to paint a brief fantasy of simpler times before returning to reality. Many called it one of her strongest vocal moments on a song she did not write, highlighting her skill as an interpreter.
The release extended Parton’s run of consistent hits into the early 1980s and illustrated how well-chosen covers could sit comfortably alongside her originals. It remained a live favorite for years and stood as another example of her ability to turn established material into something distinctly her own, bridging her mountain roots with the broader audience she had built during that decade.
Video
Lyric
When the morning sun streaks across my room
And I’m wakin’ up from another dream of you
Yes, you know I’m on the road once again it seems
All that’s left behind is a chain of broken dreams
But you know that I love you
You know that I love you
Oh, I love you
And how I wish that love was all we’d need to live
What a life we’d have, ’cause I’ve got so much to give
But you know I feel so sad down inside my heart
That the dollar signs should be keeping us apart
But you know that I love you
You know that I love you
Oh, how I love you
And if only I could find my way back to the time
When the problems of this life had not yet crossed my mind
And the answers could be found in children’s nursery rhymes
I’d come running back to you
I’d come running back to you
Hmm-mm
But you know we can’t live on dreams alone
Got to pay the rent, so I must leave you all alone
‘Cause you know I made my choice many years ago
And now this traveling life, well, it’s the only life I know
But you know that I love you
You know that I love you
Oh, I love you
But you know that I love you
You know that I love you
Oh, how I love you
But you know that I love you
You know that I love you
Oh, how I love you
But you know I love you
But you know I love you
Oh, I love you
But you know that I love you
But you know that I love you
Oh, how I love you
But you know that I love you
But you know that I love you