In 1992, Whitney Houston took the world by storm with the song “I will always love you” (I will always love you), which touched countless people. Since the song was the theme song of the movie “The Bodyguard” and the movie was about a love story, people rightly assumed that it was a love song, portraying the heartache and helplessness of lovers who love each other but cannot keep each other.
The songwriter and original singer of “I will always love you” is Dolly Parton, an evergreen American musician who is known as the “number one country music talent”. Dolly says the reason she wrote the song in the first place had nothing to do with love.
So, what did she really want to say?
Born in 1946, Dolly not only had a great voice, but also a great talent for songwriting; she was a songwriter at the age of 5, and during her 30-year career, she wrote and performed countless country music classics, and the peak of her career lasted from the late 60s to the 80s, with total record sales of over 100 million.
In 1967, Dolly released her first music album, “Hello, I’m Dolly”. That same year, country music star Porter Wagner asked Dolly to co-host his television show, The Porter Wagner Show.
The Porter Wagner Show was a singing show that featured Porter performing with his female co-stars. The show ran from 1960 to 1981, attracting 3.5 million viewers a week at its peak.
In 1967, Porter needed to find a new partner due to the departure of his female co-star. He found Dolly, who already had two singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and Porter approached her for an audition, and the two quickly hit it off.
Speaking of working with Dolly, Porter said, “Dolly has a very unique voice with a high range. She’s also a great songwriter, which made me interested in her. So we hit it off right away.”
Porter first asked Dolly to perform on his show in September 1967, and their duet was such a hit with audiences that the show’s ratings soared.
It’s safe to say that Porter, who was nearly 20 years older than Dolly, was her mentor, and Dolly looked up to Porter as if he were her mentor. On the platform provided by Porter, Dolly’s career began to take off.
They frequently performed duets on shows, and from 1968 to 1980, they had 21 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and were repeatedly named the best duet group.
As more and more of the talent in Dolly became apparent, she became more and more eye-catching. She became more famous and popular than Porter, and she was constantly approached by producers from other record labels or asked to act in movies.
Dolly grows up and matures, while Porter still treats her like the little girl she was. The relationship between the two began to become strained.
When they argued about the performance, Porter always won because he was the “check signer”.
They began to argue, the atmosphere in the studio became worse and worse, and after seven years of working together, Dolly decided to leave Porter’s show to fly. She had mixed feelings, Porter was her mentor, her friend, she respected him and didn’t know what to say to him.
“I started trying to leave, trying to pick a fight with him, but he wouldn’t listen to me, so we fought a lot because we were very similar, both very stubborn and willful. He knew what he wanted and I knew what I wanted, and we would both get what we wanted,” Dolly said.
In order to connect with Porter, Dolly decided to use her strengths to write a song and put her inner thoughts in the lyrics, and the song “I will always love you” was born.
That day, Dolly walked into Porter’s office, sat him down, and started playing and singing.
If I stay
Well, I’ll only get in your way
So I’m leaving, but I know
I’ll think of you with every step I take
I’ll always love you
Bitter sweet memories
That’s all I’m taking with me
So goodbye, please don’t cry
We both know I’m not what you need
I will always love you
I hope life will be kind to you
I hope you’ll have everything you ever dreamed of
I wish you joy and happiness
And most of all, I hope you have love
I love you, my love, I’ll always love you
Dolly confessed to Porter with this song, “Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean I don’t love you, I appreciate you and wish you all the best and thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but I’ve got to go.”
Porter broke down in tears and told Dolly that she could leave the show, but the record of the song had to be produced by him because it was the best song she had ever written, better than all the songs she had written before put together.
In 1974, Dolly and Porter announced the end of their partnership and went their separate ways. That same year, Dolly released the single “I will always love you”, which quickly reached the top of the music charts within a few months.
After leaving Porter, Dolly’s career went well and she soon became a superstar.
In 1979, he sued Dolly for $3 million for breach of contract, claiming that he had to cancel some tours because of Dolly’s departure. He even claimed that although Dolly left his show, he was still entitled to a proportionate share of her earnings as her manager.
The two eventually reached a settlement on the condition that Dolly agreed to record a new album with Porter. Porter told the press that despite the lawsuit, he never held a grudge against Dolly and that he loved her.
In 2007, Porter died of lung cancer. Before his death, he and Dolly sang “I will always love you” together at the Grand Ole Opry, known as the home of American country music.
In a 2016 interview, Porter’s daughter said, “To this day, Dolly and we are still family. She has been there for us on the most important days of our lives …… She came to her father’s bedside two hours before he died, and that meant everything to our family.”
Dolly’s voice is gentle and soft, and listening to her sing “I will always love you” is like communicating with a friend and listening to her honestly talk and talk.
Whitney Houston’s decision to choose Dolly’s song as the theme song for “The Bodyguard” had a lot to do with the strong recommendation of the movie’s leading man, Kevin Costner, as Whitney’s producer David Foster was inclined to choose another song at the time.
Kevin Costner, who is supposed to be musically accomplished, not only recommended “I will always love you” to Whitney, but also suggested that she handle the first few lines of the song in a clean vocal style.
I will always love you” was rearranged from country music to a style closer to black American “soul music”, and was performed by Whitney with her gorgeous high tone, making it feel haunting.
When talking about her first time listening to Whitney’s version, Dolly said, “The a cappella at the beginning sounded familiar to me and nothing else, but when she (Whitney) suddenly started singing I will always love you, I almost crashed my car. It’s one of the greatest songs ever written, and it’s had an amazing impact on the whole world.”
Perhaps because of preconceptions, when I first listened to Dolly’s version of “I will always love you,” I didn’t think it was as good as Whitney’s. After a few more listens, I slowly picked up some of the flavor. One reason why Whitney’s version is more popular than Dolly’s is probably because people give the song a moral of love, after all, love is a topic more likely to be noticed than friendship.
Knowing the real meaning of the song, if one day you want to jump ship, and suffer from the current boss and you have grace and can not open the mouth, may consider singing this song “I will always love you” to him or her.
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