{"id":15937,"date":"2025-05-01T21:34:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T21:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=15937"},"modified":"2025-05-01T21:34:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T21:34:05","slug":"on-this-day-in-1974-dolly-parton-released-i-will-always-love-you-a-heartfelt-farewell-to-mentor-porter-wagoner-the-song-topped-the-country-charts-twice-before-whitney-houstons-1992-renditi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=15937","title":{"rendered":"On this day in 1974, Dolly Parton released I Will Always Love You, a heartfelt farewell to mentor Porter Wagoner. The song topped the country charts twice before Whitney Houston\u2019s 1992 rendition made it a global phenomenon. Fifty years later, it remains a timeless classic."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On this day (March 11) in 1974, Dolly Parton released what would be one of her most enduring songs, \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d It was a hit for Parton. Then, nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston would turn it into an international sensation. It all started with Parton wanting to strike out on her own after years of working with Porter Wagoner.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-19\">\n<h2 id=\"video-header\" class=\"g1-delta g1-delta-2nd g1-collection-title\">Videos<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p>Parton released her debut album,\u00a0<em>Hello, I\u2019m Dolly\u00a0<\/em>in September 1967 and it peaked at No. 11 on the\u00a0<em>Billboard<\/em>\u00a0Top Country Albums chart. Later that month, she performed on\u00a0<em>The Porter Wagoner Show<\/em>\u00a0for the first time. This led to a seven-year partnership during which the pair released albums together and Wagoner mentored the young singer\/songwriter.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper video-seo-youtube-embed-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player\" data-id=\"lKsQR72HY0s\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-embed-loader\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-id=\"lKsQR72HY0s\" aria-label=\"Load YouTube video\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player-play\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You (Audio)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lKsQR72HY0s\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Parton publicly announced her professional separation from Wagoner in February 1974. \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d was her way of saying goodbye to her longtime partner.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\"><ins id=\"982a9496-49f71f0febff2a6f4b95c9822efdee2f-4-9799\" class=\"982a9496\" data-key=\"49f71f0febff2a6f4b95c9822efdee2f\"><ins id=\"982a9496-49f71f0febff2a6f4b95c9822efdee2f-4-9799-1\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"dieroseinforinread-NtCBitRCpt\"><\/div>\n<p><\/ins><\/ins><\/div>\n<h3 id=\"h-dolly-parton-reflects-on-i-will-always-love-you\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dolly Parton Reflects on \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Dolly Parton reflected on \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d in an interview for CMT\u2019s\u00a0<em>40 Greatest Love Songs<\/em>\u00a0in 2011. Parton called it \u201cThe biggest song so far in my career,\u201d during the interview. \u201cI\u2019m famous for several, but that one has been recorded by more people and made me more money, I think, than all of them. But that song did come from a true and deep place in my heart,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was trying to get away on my own because I had promised to stay with Porter\u2019s show for five years. I had been there for seven,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd we fought a lot. We were both very much alike. We were both stubborn and we both believed that we knew what was best for us. Well, he believed he knew what was best for me, too, and I believed that I knew more what was best for me at that time,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, needless to say, there was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn\u2019t listening to my reasoning for my going,\u201d Parton said. \u201cI thought, \u2018He\u2019s never going to listen. He\u2019s just going to b*tch every day that I go in to talk to about this.\u2019 So, I thought, \u2018Wait. Why don\u2019t you do what you do best? Why don\u2019t you write this song?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Parton knew that she was leaving\u00a0<em>The Porter Wagoner Show<\/em>\u00a0no matter what Wagoner had to say about it. She hoped that \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d would help soften the blow. \u201cIt\u2019s saying, \u2018Just because I\u2019m going don\u2019t mean I won\u2019t love you. I appreciate you and I hope you do great and I appreciate everything you\u2019ve done, but I\u2019m out of here,\u2019\u201d she said about the meaning of the song.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h-i-will-always-love-you-was-a-massive-hit\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d Was a Massive Hit<\/h3>\n<p>Dolly Parton\u2019s plan worked. \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d helped Porter Wagoner see reason. As she mentioned in the CMT interview, it also made her a pile of money.<\/p>\n<p>The song went to No. 1 for Parton twice. She originally released it in March 1974 as a single from\u00a0<em>Jolene<\/em>\u00a0and it topped the chart. Nearly a decade later she re-recorded the song for the soundtrack from\u00a0<em>The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas<\/em> and released it as a single, sending it to the top of the charts a second time.<\/p>\n<p>Then, Whitney Houston recorded\u00a0a pop arrangement of the song\u00a0for the soundtrack from\u00a0<em>The Bodyguard<\/em>\u00a0in 1992. It topped the\u00a0<em>Billboard<\/em>\u00a0Hot 100 for 14 weeks, received a Diamond certification from the RIAA, and became the best-selling single of all time from a solo female artist. It also topped the charts in more than 30 other countries and brought Houston three Grammy Awards including Record of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this day (March 11) in 1974, Dolly Parton released what would be one of her most enduring songs, \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d It was a&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On this day in 1974, Dolly Parton released I Will Always Love You, a heartfelt farewell to mentor Porter Wagoner. 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