On October 9, 1973, Elvis Presley and his then-wife Priscilla made an appearance at a Los Angeles County superior court in Santa Monica, California to finalize their divorce after six years of marriage. The two agreed to remain friends and shared custody of their daughter Lisa Marie, who died in 2023. As they walked down the courthouse steps together, following the divorce, Elvis serenaded his former wife with Dolly Parton‘s “I Will Always Love You.”
“I talked to Priscilla [Presley] not very long ago,” Parton told BBC Radio 2 in 2023. “She said to me, ‘You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we walked down the courthouse steps when we got divorced. He was singing to me ‘I Will Always Love You.’”
Written by Parton in 1973—coincidentally on the same day she wrote “Jolene”—”I Will Always Love You” was a farewell and tribute to her longtime mentor and business partner during the 1960s and ’70s, Porter Wagoner, as she embarked on her solo career.
Released in 1974 on her album Jolene, “I Will Always Love You” went to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and reemerged on the pop chart at No. 1, where it spent 14 weeks when Whitney Houston’s rendition was featured in 1992 for The Bodyguard soundtrack.
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[RELATED: Why Dolly Parton Refused to Let Elvis Presley Record “I Will Always Love You”]
Elvis’ Missed Rendition
After the release of “I Will Always Love You,” Presley wanted to cover Parton’s hit. “I told everyone I knew, ‘Elvis is going to record my song. You’re not going to believe who’s recording my song,’” recalled Parton in a 2006 CMT interview.
She was also asked to come down to the session with Presley, but the day before the recording, there was one stipulation around the cover that forced Parton to rescind her song. When Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told Parton that Presley would have to receive a large portion of the publishing rights to her hit song, she had to turn them down.
“Now, you know we have a rule that Elvis doesn’t record anything that we don’t take half the publishing,” said Parker, according to Parton. “And I was really quiet,” added Parton. “I said, ‘Well, now it’s already been a hit. I wrote it and I’ve already published it, and this is the stuff I’m leaving for my family when I’m dead and gone. That money goes in for stuff for my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, so I can’t give up half the publishing,’ and he said ‘Well then, we can’t record it.’”
Though Parton wanted to hear Presley’s rendition of her song and it broke her heart not to give it to him, she could not give up the rights to her hit. “I cried all night, but I had to keep that copyright in my pocket,” said Parton. “You have to take care of your business. Everybody’s going to use you if they can. These are my songs. They’re like my children. And I expect them to support me when I’m old.”
“I Dreamed About Elvis”
Parton shared a song she wrote about Presley decades earlier, “I Dreamed About Elvis,” which she later released on her 2023 album Rockstar.
“I wrote a song, 20-some years ago … it’s called ‘I Dreamed About Elvis,’” Parton said. “It’s in this album. I had Ronnie McDowell, who, he actually used to work on the road with Elvis but he sounds just like him, so I wrote a song and I dreamed that Elvis was singing the song ‘I Will Always Love You.’ So I wrote a whole song about Elvis and then when we did ‘I Will Always Love You’ and it’s in this album.”
Featuring McDowell, the song is a playfully imagined conversation between the Parton and Presley.
And the dream went on
And I dreamed I said in real life, “You sang so many songs
And I always thought I’d like to hear you sing one of my own”
He said
“I almost did one of yours, the one about true love
The ‘I Will Always Love You’ song, but the Colonel screwed that up”
Well, he sure did, but after all, this is my dream
It would be a dream come true if maybe you could sing it now
And let me sing with you, and we sang
“I will always love you, I will always love you”
Photos: Bettmann / Getty Images
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