Dolly Parton: “I cried all night after I turned down the contract with Elvis Presley” | Ents & Arts News



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Dolly Parton says she “cried all night” after a deal with Elvis Presley to sing his song I Will Always Love You went down the drain.

Parton’s The 1974 melody became a hit for Whitney Houston in 1992, as the main track in the film The Bodyguard.

However, if the story had gone differently, it could have been a more closely associated song The king.

Elvis Presley was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Elvis Presley wanted a cover of I Will Always Love You

Parton told The Big Issue that Presley had contacted her to record a version of the ballad, but she had turned him down for the money.

The 74-year-old country star said: “I was invited to the studio to meet Elvis and be there when he sang my song. This was the most exciting thing that ever happened to me. Who doesn’t love Elvis?

“But then the colonel (Tom Parker, Presley’s manager) called me the afternoon before the session and said ‘You know we have to have at least half of the release on every song that Elvis records?’

“And I said ‘No, I didn’t know.’ He said ‘Well, it’s just a rule’. So I said ‘Well, it’s not my rule.'”

Parton added, “And I cried all night, because I was so disappointed. He wasn’t Elvis, I loved Elvis. And I’m sure he was as disappointed as I was because everything worked out and he was ready to go.. I know he loved the song. “

He also said he would pick Presley as his “last conversation” if he could talk to someone about the story so he could clear up the dispute.

Dolly Parton photographed in London as part of a 1977 tour
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Parton would like to talk to him one more time to resolve the dispute

“I’d probably talk about I Will Always Love You and say ‘Hey, I bet you’ve been as disappointed as I am by all of this and still dream of you singing that song.’

“In fact, I even wrote a song called I Dreamed About Elvis Last Night and had an Elvis-like sound sung with me and we actually sing” I will love you forever. “

“And someday I’ll release that track. So I think I’d talk to Elvis, and clear it up with him.”

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She also said that Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla once told her that Elvis had sung her the song after they left the courthouse hand-in-hand after their divorce.

Parton added: “This really moved me and I thought ‘Oh well, I can only imagine’. But it wasn’t his fault.”

Dolly Parton’s full letter to my younger self is available on The Big Issue starting Wednesday December 2nd.

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