&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You: How a farewell became a global anthem")
Dolly Parton has given countless beloved classics, but her I Will Always Love You song remains one of the most famous anthems she produced. The singer-songwriter died on August 25 at the age of 80, and even today the 1973 song holds a special place in listeners' hearts.
While many listeners first discovered it through Whitney Houston, it is one of the biggest hits ever recorded. But do you know that I Will Always Love You came after a difficult professional decision that changed Parton's life?
The story of I Will Always Love You
Parton wrote the song in 1973 while she was preparing to end her long-running professional association with country star Porter Wagoner. The two had become a popular musical duo after she joined The Porter Wagoner Show. It is said that Wagoner played a key role in helping launch her career.
But after years of performing together, Parton wanted to build her career independently. "I really felt like I needed to move on. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being a girl singer. I knew my destiny. I knew that I had to continue doing what I felt... drawn to do," Parton had told Howard Stern.
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But leaving him was emotionally difficult. "We were going around and around with that," Parton once recalled. "So, finally, I thought, How am I gonna make him understand how much I appreciate everything, but that I have to go? He won't listen to me. He's not listening to the reason why I want to go!
"So I went home and I thought, Well, what do you do best? You write songs. So I sat down, and out of a very emotional place I wrote this song."
But little did she know, I Will Always Love You - a farewell song would become one of the best songs.
When Parton performed it for Wagoner, his reaction became part of music history. "He said, 'It's the best thing you ever wrote,'" Parton recalled in Ken Burns' documentary Country Music. "'OK, you can go, but only if I can produce that record.' And he did and the rest is history."
Released in 1974, the original recording reached No. 1 on the US country chart. Additionally, Parton had also written another career-defining song, "Jolene," during the same period.
Whitney Houston's version gave the song a new life
Before Whitney Houston entered the story, Elvis Presley wanted to record his own version. However, it did not go as planned because Colonel Tom Parker, Presley's manager, wanted her to give up half of the publishing rights. Parton refused, despite how much she wanted to hear Presley sing the song.
Later, I Will Always Love You found a new life through The Bodyguard, the 1992 romantic drama starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
