You’d be hard pressed to find a country song with this much fascinating history. It was on this date in 1974 that Dolly Parton released her thirteenth solo studio album, Jolene. Of course, the iconic title track became Parton’s second solo #1 country single and also became a minor pop hit, though “I Will Always Love You” eventually became an even larger mega-hit thanks to the very popular film, The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
But Dolly first put out her version as a stand alone single in 1974, when it peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart later that year, and then rereleased it October 1982, with a re-recording for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas soundtrack.
But there’s so much more history to it, that starts back on the Porter Wagoner Show, where Dolly got her start in the music business… she decided to leave in 1973 to pursue a solo career, and Porter was not happy about it.
Dolly’s Heartfelt Love Letter To Porter Wagoner
Porter was so upset that even sued Dolly over her departure, and they didn’t talk for many years after the whole fiasco, but eventually did become friends again – and in fact, became so close, that Dolly was with Porter and his family when he passed away in 2007. But back then, Dolly wrote “I Will Always Love You” to try to explain her feelings about leaving his show to Porter.
She explained in-detail how the song came about in a 2015 interview with The Tennessean:
“How am I gonna make him understand how much I appreciate everything, but that I have to go? So I went home and I thought, ‘Well, what do you do best? You write songs.’ So I sat down and I wrote this song…
I took it back to the office the next day. I said, ‘Porter, sit down. I’ve written something I think you need to hear.’ I started singing ‘I Will Always Love You,’ and he started crying. When I finished, he said, ‘Well, hell! If you feel that strong about it, just go on — providing I get to produce that record because that’s the best song you ever wrote.’”
But there was another wrinkle in the history… because of how successful her song became, it caught the ear of music icon Elvis Presley, who wanted to record his own version. But Dolly turned him down…
Why Dolly Passed On Elvis Presley
Unlike almost every other artist in the music industry, or a lot of them at least, Dolly has always maintained full ownership of her publishing rights, with the exception of a very small handful in her catalog that she doesn’t own outright.
She had a phone call with Elvis’ infamous manager, Colonel Parker, the day before Elvis was supposed to go into the studio to actually cut “I Will Always Love You” to discuss the deal. She said she had already agreed to letting him record it, though nothing had been signed off on or made official in ink yet, and Elvis really wanted to record it and was excited about it.
Unfortunately for Dolly, or perhaps… fortunately, it was during this call that Parker told her they required all of the publishing rights, or at least 50%, in order for Elvis to record a song. Parker was smart… he knew the publishing to a mega-hit like this was very valuable. In a 2018 cover story with the UK magazine Event, Dolly gave a bit more insight into how everything went down:
“His manager Colonel Parker called me up the day before he was due to record the song and said, ‘Now you know Elvis has to have the publishing rights or at least half the publishing rights of any song he records.’”
And that’s when it hit her that there was no way she could go through with it:
“That was my most important copyright at the time. If it had been a new song, I might have considered it.”
Like she mentioned before, she might’ve considered giving Elvis the rights if it was a different song he wanted to record, but she just couldn’t give that one up, knowing what a special and important song it was for her career. I mean, she was over the moon to have Elvis want to sing her song, and told everyone she knew he was going to sing it. But at the end of the day, she had to follow her gut and couldn’t let that one go if she wouldn’t be maintaining the rights:
“I was desperate for Elvis to sing my song and I’d told everyone he was going to sing it, but I couldn’t let that happen. It’s my song, my publishing rights. It broke my heart but I had to turn him down.”
And she doubled down on the sentiment even decades later, saying that it’s still one of the hardest things she’s ever done:
“That was one of the hardest things I ever had to do because I loved Elvis.”
It just makes you wonder what could’ve been if he ever got his hands on it… and Dolly still does, too, saying:
“He would have sung it great. Can you imagine Elvis singing ‘I Will Always Love You’?”
I can, and it would’ve been nothing short of spectacular, I’m sure. In fact, Priscilla Presley once told Dolly that Elvis sang that song to her as they walked down the courthouse steps on the day they officially got divorced. However, the publishing decision would have massive ramifications about two decades later when a young pop star named Whitney Houston recorded the song.
Whitney Houston’s Iconic Version For The Bodyguard
Nearly 20 years later, the song ended up in the hands of the late, great Whitney Houston when she recorded a rendition of it for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Her single spent 14 weeks at the number one spot of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting a new record at the time, ultimately becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time and the best-selling single by a woman.
Dolly had originally offered the song to Patti LaBelle, but they used it for The Bodyguard before she could officially accept the offer. Patti agreed that it was Whitney’s song, and she was glad Whitney was the one who got to record it. I mean, it’s tough to imagine anyone else’s vocals, aside from Dolly’s and Whitney’s, on that song, and it was actually supposed to be a cover Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” as the lead single for the movie, though Houston found out that it had been used in the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes just a year prior, and it was Kevin Costner who suggested she record Dolly Parton’s hit instead.
Whitney loved the idea, but Arista Records boss Clive Davis wasn’t so into it… but Costner, who also produced the film, just knew it was the perfect song choice and didn’t let up on his idea. Eventually, everyone agreed, and it was his idea for Houston to do the a capella version at the opening.
He explained that he didn’t care if it ever even became a radio hit, because he knew how important the song was to the film:
“I said, ‘This is a very important song in this movie. I didn’t care if it was ever on the radio. I didn’t care. I said, ‘We’re also going to do this a cappella at the beginning. I need it to be a cappella because it shows a measure of how much she digs this guy – that she sings without music.'”
He was right, and obviously, it’s become one of the most popular songs of all-time, and certainly one the most iconic country songs ever written or recorded. And thanks to her refusal to sell the publishing rights of the song to Elvis, Dolly still owned 100% of the publishing when Whitney recorded the mega-hit. I’m not sure what Elvis was gonna pay for the publishing rights, perhaps nothing for half, but it’s safe to say that Whitney made Dolly a heck of lot more money on it.
Unfortunately, we never got to hear a duet by the two powerhouses in Dolly and Whitney, but I can only imagine how absolutely incredible that would’ve been. They’re two of the most iconic female musicians ever, and Dolly still regrets that they never got to sing it together:
“I was never asked to perform that with Whitney. I wish that could’ve happened, I would have loved that, but I don’t think I could’ve come up to snuff with her, though.
She’d have out-sung me on that one, for sure.”
Dolly also talked about the first time she ever heard Whitney’s version on The Oprah Conversation a while back, and she said she almost wrecked her car (again) when it came on the radio the first time:
“I was shot so full of adrenaline and energy, I had to pull off because I was afraid that I would wreck, so I pulled over quick as I could to listen to that whole song. I could not believe how she did that. I mean, how beautiful it was that my little song had turned into that, so that was a major, major thing.”
It’s impossible to overstate just how successful, impactful, and brilliant every version of this song is. To not only have been so successful in the country genre, but also crossover to pop in such a huge way and have legends like Elvis wanting to record it… it’s a testament to the power of an incredibly written, strikingly honest country song and the true brilliance of one of the best to ever do it, Mrs. Dolly Parton.
It will remain a timeless piece of music history, that continues to stand out as one of the most important songs in American music, thanks to superstars like Dolly and Whitney who poured everything they had into making it so great.
I mean, it just doesn’t get better than this…
And I’ll leave you with my all-time favorite performance video of Dolly singing her masterpiece around the time it was released in 1974:
