Dolly Parton says she “cried all night long” after turning down Elvis Presley’s request to record a cover of her song ‘I Will Always Love You’.
She revealed that Elvis Presley wanted to record a version of her hit, but she turned him down over the money.
Dolly Parton explained:
“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, Presley’s legendary 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. 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.”
The Country icon released the song in 1974 before it received a famous 1992 cover by Whitney Houston for the romantic thriller The Bodyguard.
