Dolly Parton Reveals Elvis Sang ‘I Will Always Love You’ to Priscilla as They Got Divorced

Dolly Parton’s hit song “I Will Always Love You” had a special place in the heart of Elvis Presley. The iconic country star opened up about how Elvis almost recorded his own version of “I Will Always Love You” following his divorce from Priscilla Presley in a new interview with BBC2 radio, revealing that he even sang the song to Priscilla while walking down the steps of the courthouse after finalizing their split. 

“See, Elvis loved the song,” Parton explained, adding, “In fact, I talked to Priscilla not very long ago. She said, ‘You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we were walking down the courthouse steps when we got divorced.’” Parton continued of Elvis’ enthusiasm for her classic melody, “He loved the song, wanted to do it, had it worked up, they’d already called me to come down to the studio to meet him, and to be part and hear the song.” 

The night before that meeting, however, Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, called Parton to let her know that he wouldn’t let Elvis record anything unless they had at least half of the publishing rights on it. “Well, I said, because I had a No. 1 song on it, I said, ‘This is the most important copyright in my whole publishing company, and I can’t do that,’” she recalled. With both Parker and Parton refusing to budge with their negotiations, Elvis never recorded his version of “I Will Always Love You,” which left him “heartbroken.”

It’s part of the reason Parton is paying tribute to Elvis on her upcoming Rockstar album, which drops Nov. 17. On the album, the country legend is accompanied on a song by Elvis’ one-time backing vocalists the Jordanaires. “I wrote a song, 20 some years ago, had the Jordanaires, I wrote a song called ‘I Dreamed About Elvis’. It’s in this album,” she revealed. “I had Ronnie McDowell, who, he actually used to work on the road with Elvis but he sounds just like him, so I wrote a song and I dreamed that Elvis was singing the song ‘I Will Always Love You.’ So I wrote a whole song about Elvis and then when we did ‘I Will Always Love You’, and it’s in this album.”