‘My heart was going to burst’: Dolly Parton on Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’
In 1992, Whitney Houston released a cover of country singer Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” for her acting debut in “The Bodyguard” and turned the tearjerker into pop music history.
I spoke with Parton in 2017 about the song, Houston’s remarkable interpretation and the life Parton had built as one of America’s most celebrated songwriters.
With Parton’s death Tuesday at age 80, I found myself returning to that conversation and what she told me about the song that connected two of music’s most distinctive voices.
Partonwrote and recorded the twangy ballad for her 1974 album, “Jolene,” as a dedication to her creative partner, television host and singer Porter Wagoner. It was her farewell to the end of their seven-year creative relationship so she could pursue a solo career.
“We were so much alike, we couldn’t get along, or we were so different, we couldn’t get along. But we had a great love; it was a love-hate relationship. After the fighting, love and depth we had for each other, I tried to write to express how I feel. It was a very hard song,” Parton said to me in a 2017 interview for music website Albumism.
Parton’s melancholy tune peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart and was later recorded by singers Linda Ronstadt, Vince Gill and LeAnn Rimes.
Whitney Houston makes the song her own
But Houston’s version, released in 1992 and produced by David Foster, became one of the singer’s most recognizable songs and a cultural phenomenon.
Houston, who died in February 2012 at age 48, opens with a breathy a cappella before delicately, and patiently, delivering a four-octave range over a lush arrangement.
Three minutes and 11 seconds into the track, the vocalist affectionately known to her fans as “The Voice,” explodes and belts out a powerful register that still resonates with radio and record buyers.
Parton admitted she heard Houston’s version on the radio while driving and felt Houston had made the song her own.
“I thought my heart was going to burst outside of my body. It was the most powerful feeling I guess I’d ever had. It was such a shock, and it was so great. She sang it so good, I was just overwhelmed,” Parton told me.
Last year, the Guinness Book of World Records named “I Will Always Love You” as the bestselling physical single by a female recording artist of all-time with 24 million copies sold worldwide.
The Recording Industry Association of America has certified the single Diamond, representing more than 10 million certified units in the United States.
RIAA also named “The Bodyguard” the top-certified soundtrack with 19 million copies sold stateside.
Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It broke the record previously held by R&B vocal quartet Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” and held it until Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey’s “One Sweet Day” surpassed it.
In 1994, “I Will Always Love You” earned Houston two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Parton presented Houston with the pop vocal Grammy during the telecast.
“The Bodyguard” soundtrack also won Album of the Year, and the song was later inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Dolly Parton’s legacy beyond music
Parton, a philanthropist and entrepreneur, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Tennessee-born multi-hyphenate invested the song’s royalties in an abandoned strip mall she converted into an office complex in a Black community in Nashville.
Parton also spoke in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Through her Imagination Library, she helped provide free books to children, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support coronavirus research.
Parton’s songs also continued to travel across genres and generations, including through Black artists.
Beyoncé, Candi Staton and Atlanta-born entertainer Lil Nas X have recorded or performed versions of “Jolene.”
Parton even contributed guest vocals on Beyoncé’s 2024 album, “Cowboy Carter.”
When I spoke with Parton in 2017, she told me how she hoped to be remembered: for her humility and willingness to help others.
“Once you’re in a position to help, you definitely should,” she said. “You get a good feeling when you’re giving for somebody else. If God has been good to you, be good to other people. It makes me feel good to do it. It’s my duty to do it.”