Remember When Dolly Parton Wrote a Letter of Thanks to Sinéad O’Connor for a Song She Sang During Her Infamous ‘SNL’ Appearance

In 1992, Sinéad O’Connor started exploring the country genre with a cover of Loretta Lynn‘s 1962 hit “Success.” Released on her third album, I Am Not Your Girl, and retitled “Success Has Made Me a Failure of Our Home,” the song was co-produced with Phil Ramone and became one of O’Connor’s biggest hits, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

By the mid-’90s, O’Connor also shared a duet with Willie Nelson on a stirring cover of Peter Gabriel‘s “Don’t Give Up” for Nelson’s Across the Borderline album, then left an atmospheric touch on Bobbie Gentry‘s 1967 Southern country-folk hit “Ode to Billie Joe” for the 1995 charity compilation Help: A Charity Project for the Children of Bosnia.

Nearly a decade after O’Connor started moving into the country, she added another bluegrass-folk touch to Dolly Parton‘s 2002 song “Dagger Through the Heart.” Originally released on Parton’s thirty-ninth album, Halos & Horns, O’Connor’s version was later part of a 2003 tribute compilation to the country legend, Just Because I’m a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton, which also featured a Shania Twain and Alison Krauss duet on “Coat of Many Colors,” a cover of “To Daddy” by Emmylou Harris, and Melissa Etheridge’s take on “I Will Always Love You.”

Coincidentally, “Dagger Through the Heart” was also the first song O’Connor performed during her 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live. Parton’s song opened O’Connor’s SNL set, before her a cappella rendition of Bob Marley‘s 1976 song “War,” which she performed before tearing a photo of Pope John Paul II.

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Dolly to Sinéad: “I have always loved you.”

Parton was already a fan of O’Connor’s and hand-picked her to cover “Dagger Through the Heart” on the tribute album. Shortly after its release, Parton showed her appreciation for O’Connor’s cover of “Dagger Through the Heart” by writing her a heartfelt letter. Dated June 25, 2003, Parton sent a typewritten note to O’Connor, praising her rendition.

“Well, I have always loved you anyhow, but now I love you more,” wrote Parton. “I absolutely love how you sang ‘Dagger Through the Heart.’ Man alive, I feel that through and through. Thank you for being a part of this special project and for giving so generously of yourself and your talent.”

“Well, I have always loved you anyhow, but now I love you more.”

Dolly Parton

In the letter, Parton added, “Thank you for being a part of this special project and for giving so generously of yourself and your talent.”

Shortly after O’Connor’s death in 2023, Parton also shared some memories of the singer. “I hated to hear she was gone,” said Parton. “I know that she had a real hard life, but you could tell that in her music; you could tell what all that she went through, and sometimes that makes the best singers, people that live what they’re singing about.”

She also called O’Connor “very, very sweet,” and said that her version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was one of her favorite songs. “I just loved that version of it,” added Parton, before talking about O’Connor’s cover of “Dagger Through the Heart.”

“When I heard she had recorded it,” said Parton, “I was really impressed and delighted.”

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