The Bargain Store

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = The Bargain Store | type = Album | artist = Dolly Parton | cover = bargainstore.jpg | alt = | released = February 17, 1975 | recorded = RCA Studios, Nashville, December 1974 – January 1975 | venue = | studio = | genre = Country | length = 25:42 | label = RCA Victor | producer = Bob Ferguson, Porter Wagoner | prev_title = Love Is Like a Butterfly | prev_year = 1974 | next_title = Best of Dolly Parton | next_year = 1975 | misc = {{Singles | name = The Bargain Store | type = studio | single1 = The Bargain Store | single1date = January 13, 1975 }} }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = Allmusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}} <ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r108059}}</ref> | rev2 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' | rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}{{r|larkin}} }}

'''''The Bargain Store''''' is the fifteenth solo studio album by American entertainer Dolly Parton. It was released on February 17, 1975, by RCA Victor. In the Parton-penned title track, one of her best-known compositions, she used worn, second-hand merchandise in a discount store as a metaphor for a woman damaged by an ill-fated relationship. The song was dropped from a number of country stations' playlists when programmers mistook the line "you can easily afford the price" as a thinly veiled reference to prostitution. Despite the decrease in airplay, the song nonetheless topped the U.S. country singles charts in April 1975.

The album was largely made up of Parton's own compositions but also contained Merle Haggard's "You'll Always Be Special to Me". (Haggard, in turn, covered Parton's "Kentucky Gambler", from this album, later in 1975.)

The album was re-released for the first time in December 2013. It was made available as a digital download on iTunes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/bargain-store/785085620|title=Bargain Store by Dolly Parton on Apple Music|website=iTunes|date=16 March 1975 |access-date=2016-09-24}}</ref> This is the first time that eight of the songs ("When I'm Gone", "The Only Hand You'll Need to Hold", "I Want to Be What You Need", "Love to Remember", "You'll Always Be Special to Me", "He Would Know" and "I'll Never Forget") have been made available outside of the original LP, cassette and eight-track releases of the album.

==Track listing== All songs written by Dolly Parton unless otherwise noted. {{track listing |headline = Side one |extra_column = Recording date |title1 = The Bargain Store |length1 = 2:44 |extra1 = December 4, 1974 |title2 = Kentucky Gambler |length2 = 2:40 |extra2 = May 23, 1973 |title3 = When I'm Gone |length3 = 2:16 |extra3 = December 11, 1974 |title4 = The Only Hand You'll Need to Hold |length4 = 2:12 |extra4 = December 4, 1974 |title5 = On My Mind Again |length5 = 2:51 |writer5 = Porter Wagoner |extra5 = December 11, 1974 }} {{track listing |extra_column = Recording date |headline = Side two |title6 = I Want to Be What You Need |length6 = 2:42 |extra6 = December 9, 1974 |title7 = Love to Remember |length7 = 2:33 |extra7 = December 11, 1974 |title8 = You’ll Always Be Special to Me |writer8 = Merle Haggard |length8 = 2:23 |extra8 = December 11, 1974 |title9 = He Would Know |length9 = 2:34 |extra9 = December 9, 1974 |title10 = I’ll Never Forget |length10 = 2:47 |extra10 = December 11, 1974 }}

==Charts== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Chart performance for ''The Bargain Store'' ! scope="col"| Chart (1975) ! scope="col"| Peak<br>position |- {{Album chart|BillboardCountry|9|artist=Dolly Parton|rowheader=true}} |- !scope="row"|US ''Cashbox'' Country Albums<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1975/CB-1975-05-10.pdf|title=Cash Box Country Albums|work=Cashbox|access-date=23 December 2024}}</ref> |align="center"|4 |}

==References== <references> <ref name=larkin>{{cite book|author=Colin Larkin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|edition=4th|volume=6|date=2006|publisher=Muze, Oxford University Press|page=435{{ndash}}6|isbn=978-0-19-531373-4|chapter=Parton, Dolly|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0006unse/page/435/}}</ref> </references>

==External links== *[http://www.dollyon-line.com/archives/albums/thebargains/index.shtml The Bargain Store at Dolly Parton On-Line]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bargain Store, The}} Category:Dolly Parton albums Category:1975 albums Category:Albums produced by Bob Ferguson (musician) Category:RCA Records albums