Dolly Parton "cried all night long" after rejecting Elvis Presley’s request to record a cover of 'I Will Always Love You'.
Dolly Parton
The 74-year-old singer released the song in 1974, but she declined Elvis' request to record a cover amid a dispute over money.
In The Big Issue’s Letter To My Younger Self, she shared: "I’d been invited down to the studio to meet Elvis and be there when he sang my song. That was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. Who doesn’t love Elvis?
"But then Colonel (Tom Parker, Elvis' manager) called me the afternoon before the session and said ‘You do know we have to have at least half the publishing on any song that Elvis records?’
"And I said ‘No, I did not know that’. He said ‘Well, it’s just a rule’. So I said ‘Well, it’s not my rule'. And I cried all night long, ’cause I was so disappointed."
Despite the dispute, Dolly insisted she didn't have any issues with the late icon.
She wrote: "It wasn’t Elvis, I loved Elvis. And I’m sure he was as disappointed as I was because he had it all worked up and ready to go. I know he loved the song."
Dolly wishes she could still speak with Elvis to officially end their dispute.
Asked who she would choose to have her "last conversation" with, Dolly said: "I’d probably talk about 'I Will Always Love You' and say ‘Hey, I bet you were as disappointed as I was about all that and I still dream about you singing that song’.
"Matter of fact, I even wrote a song called 'I Dreamed About Elvis Last Night' and I had an Elvis soundalike sing it with me and we actually sing ‘I will always love you’ in it.
"And one day, I’m going to put that track out. So I think that I’d talk to Elvis, and just clear that up with him."
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