Many associate “I Will Always Love You” with Whitney Houston, but Dolly Parton is the song’s original creator. Parton did beautiful work with the lyrics, but she doesn’t have the powerhouse vocal chops that made Houston’s version iconic. The country singer doesn’t mind that people associate with Houston, as she got plenty of royalty checks she spent to her heart’s desire.
Dolly Parton spent the royalty checks from Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ on a strip mall
Houston released her version of “I Will Always Love You” in 1992 as part of the soundtrack for The Bodyguard. Upon its release, the song spent 14 weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, a record at the time. In an interview with Sirius XM, Parton said she didn’t know what song it was when she first heard it. Once she recognized it was Houston covering her song, she “almost wrecked” her car.
“I knew it was something, but it didn’t register,” she said. “I thought, ‘What is that? I know what that is.’ And then all of a sudden she starts that … when she goes into the ‘I will always love you’ part, honest-to-goodness, I almost wrecked. I had to pull over. I was afraid because I was so caught up in that by then that I had to pull over and listen to it. But it was the most overwhelming feeling that little song mine could be done so beautifully, so big, so overwhelming, that it really almost just, heart attack right there; I’ll never forget it.”
Whitney Houston’s version became more popular than Parton’s version, and many people forgot she originally wrote it. However, Parton said she didn’t care as she received fat royalty checks. In a 2021 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Parton revealed what she did with the money. She said she spent it on a strip mall in a black neighborhood in Nashville, TN, as this was the best way to honor Houston, who died in 2012
“I bought a property in what was the Black area of town, and it was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there, and it was just off the beaten path from 16th Avenue,” Parton explained. “It was a whole strip mall, and I thought this is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney, so I just thought, ‘This is great, I’m just going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well.’”
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Parton turned down Elvis Presley when he wanted to cover the song
While Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” earned Dolly Parton plenty of dough, there was another cover that could have made her even more money. In Living and Learning With Reba McEntire, Parton disclosed that Elvis Presley wanted to record a cover of her song. She was giddy, as Elvis was an inspirational figure in her musical career.
However, Parton had to turn him down. “I Will Always Love You” was one of her biggest songs at the time, and Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that the Memphis singer could not record the track unless he owned all or at least half of the publishing rights. She had to turn Elvis down since the track was a massive stepping stone in her career.
“Well, that throws a new light on this because I can’t give you half the publishing. I’m gonna leave that to my family. I can’t do that,” Parton shared. “I cried all night. Oh, I just pictured Elvis, like, singing it. And I know that Elvis loved it. And I know it wasn’t him, but it’s true. I said no.”
Fortunately, Parton hung on to the song and reaped the benefits when Houston turned the track into an international sensation.
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