Well thank you so much and hello UT.

And I want to say congratulations to every single one of you.

That graduated today. I was listing to your names.

I’ve been back there waiting for you to finish so I could start up.

Anyway, I know this is a big big day for you.

And I never dreamed, never ever ever dreamed that I would be a commencement speaker.

Now sing, yes I can do that.

No problem, but making speeches I’m a little nervous.

Seriously.

Nervous, because I know that I am suppose to say something meaningful to you.

Maybe some good advice for you to always remember.

Now I usually try not to give advice.

Information, yes, advice, no.

But, what has worked for me may not work for you.

Well, take for instance.

What has worked for me.

Wigs.

Tight clothes.

Push up bras.

High heel shoes, five inch high heel shoes.

All I gotta say, take my advices some of you boys out there may find yourself on a little different career path.

Than you might have planned.

And you girls better be careful too seriously.

I wanted to tell you that the way I look is a country girls idea of glamour.

It came from a very serious place.

There was a, what you call a town trollop in our town.

Up in Sevierville.

Well I thought she was the prettiest thing I’d every seen when I was a little girl.

And every chance I had to go to town.

I’d see her and I would say oh she’s just so pretty.

And they’d say oh she’s just trash.

And I thought that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up.

And I know that sometimes I look like it but hopefully I’m a little more than that.

I’d like to believe that there is a brain beneath all this hair.

And a heart beneath these…them.

But seriously this entire moment reminds me of the first time I ever got up to sing on stage

Now I was just a kid and I was nervous then too.

And I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to deliver what the audience wanted from me.

But, I did sing and they did applaud.

And they did want more.

Only trouble was they wanted an encore.

And I had only one song.

So I just started up and sang the same song again.

Don’t you worry though.

Cause I’m not going to repeat this speech. I don’t care how much you like it.

But, seriously I remember , you know, all of that.

It was a start for me.

And of course today is a special day.

Remember your parents today.

Because at this moment.

As you well know.

They are as proud of you as they will probably ever be.

And they love you as much as they probably ever will.

They’re all emotional.

Look at them.

All teary-eyed.

Seems to me like a good time for you to ask them for a loan.

We got the smart bank up here. I’m sure they could help you out with that.

You know several years ago I created the Dollywood foundation.

Now I know we wanted to do things to inspire kids.

But, like all good organizations we needed the right mission to guide us.

And in the end what we came up with was pretty simple.

Strait forward.

And a wish for all kids.

We wanted them to dream more.

Learn more.

Care more.

Now when I was thinking about what I should say to you today.

Well those four simple things just kept coming back to me.

So I thought that I would use this as a way to share my thoughts with you.

And be more.

Now Governor Bredensen said a whole bunch of things.

That I was going to say, but I didn’t know he was going to say them.

So I’m going to say what I have to say.

Cause he was right on the money with a whole lot of things he said about me.

I’m very grateful for my life.

But if I had but one wish for you.

It would be for you to dream more.

Now when I was a kid I use to put a tin can on a broom handle.

I use stick it down in the crack out on the porch of our old cabin.

And of course in my mind’s eye I was standing on a stage.

With my guitar.

Singing my heart out in this microphone.

And those were not chickens out there in the yard.

It was my audience.

And that was no ragged dress.

That I was wearin’.

It was a dress all a glitter with rhinestones.

And it was made of the finest silk.

In my Mind.

So you have to stay true to your heart.

And to your dreams.

Now the night I graduated from Sevier County High School.

Back in 1964.

We were all asked to stand up and talk about what we were going to do with the rest of our lives.

And everybody had a different story.

And when it came my time I stood right up there.

I said I’m going to Nashville and I’m going to be a star.

Well the whole place laughed out loud.

And I was so embarrassed.

Cause I thought how odd. Why is everybody laughing, cause that is what I’m going to do.

But as bad as I felt at that moment and as embarrassed as I was.

It did not shake me from my dreams.

So I guess I showed them huh.

And you can do the same.

Of course you have to be careful.

Do not confuse dreams with wishes.

There is a difference.

Dreams are where you visualize yourself being successful.

At what’s important to you to accomplish.

Now dreams build convictions.

Because you work hard to pay the price to make sure that they come true.

Wishes are hopin’ good things will happen to you.

But there is no fire in your gut to put everything forth to over come all the obstacles.

So you have to dream more.

And never ever ever blame somebody else.

If it doesn’t happen.

That is in your department.

Yeah it’s true.

You’ll see more of what I mean as you get out there in the big world.

Cause I still have dreams of what I want to do next.

And of course I hope that I will never retire.

I will never go to seed.

And as they say I would certainly whether wear out than to rust out.

And I just hope that I drop dead right on stage one of these days.

Doing exactly what I want to do.

And I want people to just walk all around me and say oh just look at her.

She’s smilin’, she looks so happy.

But I hope it don’t happen today.

That would not be good on your big day.

But, if it happens just know I went happy.

Because this is what I do love to do.

And If I had but one request of you.

I ask that you learn more.

Now when I was in school I only made average grades.

Maybe it was because I dreamed to much about music.

And becoming a star.

Or maybe I was paying to much attention to the boys.

Or maybe I was just your typical dumb A.

And I know there’s a lot of us out there.

But, Anyway it took me a while to.

to realize that the more you learn about everything.

The easier it is to do it.

So I thank God that when I was a kid my mother use to read the bible to me.

And I learned to love reading when I was just a tiny little thing.

I read everything I can get my hands on.

Because, It is my belief that if you can read.

Even if you don’t get a chance to get an education.

You can learn about everything.

And of course that was one of the reasons I wanted to work with the Imagination Library.

So if you learn.

To read you can learn almost anything.

I also believe that learn more mean to keep working.

At making your dreams come true.

I know that I have truly been blessed.

But, I can tell you as the Governor did.

That I have worked my country butt off.

To see those dreams come true.

Nobody ever makes it without hard work.

Now working hard is not just effort.

It’s learning.

It’s trying new things.

And it’s about taking chances.

I got my first big start in Nashville.

Working for a man named Porter Wagoner.

Now Porter had, yeah you know him.

He was good to me.

We went around and around.

He had the best TV show.

The most successful syndicated television show.

And we were one of the most popular duets.

Ever in country music.

But, I wanted to try new things.

I wanted to write more songs.

Different music, and sing and try different things.

Porter didn’t want that.

And neither did a lot of the so called conventional wisdom.

I knew that even if I fell flat on my face.

At least that I would know that I tried.

And that I would learn something.

From all that.

I also knew at the time that.

Given my size.

That if I did fall on my face.

It would take forever to get me up.

So, course that’s a different story for a different crowd.

Goes back to that to that town trollop don’t it.

Anyway the same was true when I started branching out into.

Pop music.

And even doing some dance music.

People squawked and they complained.

And they had swore that I had lost my mind.

And I really wish that ya’ll could have seen the look on my lawyers face.

Twenty-four years ago.

When I told him I wanted to start a theme park.

And call it Dollywood.

He thought I’d already taken the train to Crazywood.

But, I’m sure bunches of ya have seen that dream come true for me.

And hopefully if you ain’t been to Dollywood.

You will get up there.

Can you believe it, 25 years.

Next year we’re gonna special from up there.

Maybe you’ll be back home and.

Come up and see us.

But, you know learning is all about taking chances.

And as the Governor said rolling up your sleeves and working hard.

Now sometimes it works.

And sometimes it doesn’t.

But, one thing is for sure.

If you never try.

You’re never going to win.

Now if I have but one favor to ask of you.

It’s that you care more.

Did you ever notice that there are a whole lot of people that do things just well enough to get by?

But, caring is about striving for perfection.

It’s about how you look.