Dolly Parton is paying tribute to her beloved late husband Carl Dean with a new song. Three days after Dean’s passing on March 3, the country superstar released a tender new track titled “If You Hadn’t Been There.”
“Carl and I fell in love when I was 18 and he was 23, and like all great love stories, they never end,” Parton wrote of her husband of nearly 60 years, who died on Monday, March 3 in Nashville at 82. “They live in memory and in song, and I dedicate this to him.”
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In the song, Parton sings, “If you hadn’t been there / Where would I be? / Without your trust, love and belief,” continuing, “The ups and downs / We’ve always shared / And I wouldn’t be here, if you hadn’t been there.”
Parton shared her new song for her husband shortly after she posted a loving message on Instagram earlier that day. “This is a love note to family, friends, and fans. Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl,” she wrote. “I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me.”
“He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you,” the Grammy winner continued, referencing her 1973 song “I Will Always Love You.”
Parton confirmed her husband, whom she married in 1966, had passed on social media earlier this week, writing, “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Dean was Parton’s number one supporter and fan throughout their decades of marriage but stayed largely out of the spotlight. In 2016, he offered a rare public statement to Entertainment Tonight recalling the first time he laid eyes on Parton at a Nashville laundromat, calling it “the day my life began.” Dean remembered, “My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’”
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