before we begin I just want to say thank

you Our last video just passed 1 million

views and that means the world to me

This channel keeps growing thanks to

people like you who love music and the

stories behind it And today we’re

telling the story of a song that began

as a quiet goodbye and became one of the

most powerful goodbyes in music history

This is the story of I will always love

you

should stay In 1973 Dolly Parton stood

at a turning point After seven years as

the featured performer on the Porter

Wagner show she felt it was time to step

out on her own But saying goodbye wasn’t

easy Not to someone who had helped

launch her career Around that same time

she released her first number one hit

Jolene There was a girl that worked at

the bank when my husband and I first got

married and she got a big crush on him

and I think he kind of had a crush on

her I know he’s spending more time in

the bank than we had money And so I just

kind of took that little bit of you know

like that other woman kind of thing In

1974 she walked into Porter Wagner’s

office and sang him something she had

written the night before

I should

[Music]

stay I would

only be in your way

It was personal respectful but final

Wagner didn’t take it well After she

left the show he launched a wave of

negative press and eventually threatened

to sue her for $3 million To me Dolly

Parton is the kind of person that I

would never trust with anything of mine

I mean her family her own

blood She would turn her back on to help

herself I’m not that kind of person I

don’t care about talking about it

because most people would think I’m

bitter you know I’m not bitter at her at

all They settled out of court Dolly

ended up paying him $1 million money she

didn’t have at the time It took her

years to repay it Still she forgave him

They made peace And when Porter passed

away in 2007 Dolly was by his side I

Will Always Love You was released in

March 1974 as the second single from her

Jolene album It reached number one on

the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart

and became one of the year’s bestselling

singles Then came another twist Elvis

Presley wanted to record I Will Always

Love You but Elvis’s manager demanded

half the publishing rights a standard

condition for The King Dolly said no It

was one of the hardest decisions she’d

ever made and one of the smartest Elvis

was ready to record it I’d told my

friends and people that he was recording

it and they were in town to do the

recording They had invited me down to

the session and Colonel Tom Parker calls

me the day before and says “Now you do

know that Elvis is recording your song

and you do know that Elvis don’t record

anything that he don’t publish or at

least get half the publishing

on This song’s already been a hit with

me and this is in my publishing company

and obviously this is going to be one of

my most important copyrights and I can’t

give you half the publishing.” Dolly

said no It broke her heart But the story

didn’t stop there In 1982 Dolly

re-recorded the song for the film The

Best Little Horouse in Texas and it

reached number one again

When I first recorded it I it was a

number one song for me in 1972 when I

first wrote it Then when I did the best

little house in Texas with Bert

Reynolds we used it in the movie and it

became a number one song again So it’s

the first time that the same song has

ever been number one with the same

artist Then in 1995 she recorded it a

third time this time as a duet with

Vince Gil

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

After an emotional performance at the

Grand Ori radio stations began playing

it on their own It officially peaked at

number 15 earned a Grammy nomination and

won vocal event of the year at the CAS

Meanwhile in Hollywood Kevin Cosner had

a dream to turn the script of The

Bodyguard into a major film For years

the project sat in limbo When the

project finally moved forward in 1990 he

knew exactly who he wanted to star

alongside him I got word that um he had

a script written by Larry Casden written

about 15 years ago more than that and

that he was very interested in me

playing the role of uh opposite him He

believed in her so much he delayed

filming for a full year just to wait for

her Well we postponed the movie for a

year because to wait for Whitney There

was an exotic quality to Whitney You

know there was this thing about her and

um and you know guys are in love with

her Originally the movie was supposed to

feature What Becomes of the

Brokenhearted as its theme song What

becomes of the

Brokenhearted but I sat in my studio and

I did not one but two demos of that song

Played the demos for her and she would

go “Really do we really have to do this

song i mean it’s a nice song but it’s

just not right for me.” And I felt the

same way The song that we were going to

go with was a song called What Becomes

of a Broken Heart And I’m opening up

Billboard magazine which is the music

bible And I’m looking at the charts and

this kid Paul Young enters the charts at

60 with a bullet with what becomes of

the brokenhearted What becomes of the

brokenhearted

so I call Kevin Cosner right away I said

Kevin we can’t do this song Paul Young

is about to have a hit with it I mean

it’s going to be crazy And he goes “Oh

jeez.” Jim Wilson uh came to me with a

couple of songs including I Will Always

Love You And I had known that song and

loved it We heard Dolly Parton song

before and I said I went by it you know

because it was a country version and I

you know we was

listening Kevin brought it back to me in

the trailer one day and he said “I’m

telling you this is the song.” He said

“You must listen to the song I clear the

trailer and I listen to the song and it

hit me.” I was like “Oh he’s so high.”

Then came another bold move Cosner

suggested starting the song a capella

with no music pure voice When Kevin said

to me you know I’d like her to start the

first part ac cappella Like come on Are

you kidding me i said you know and he

said no I think it’d be great I said are

you kidding you can’t start a record

that way and it won’t get on the radio

You It’s not going to work I said I’ll

tell you what for the movie version

we’ll do that but when I make the record

version I’m going to put music around He

said “Okay well whatever you want to do

for the record but in my movie she’s

going to start acappella.” Don’t be too

sure they won’t play it on the radio I

said “But for me Whitney was doing

almost an apology moment at that point.”

And what better way to to let somebody

know they really mean what they’re

singing to you when they say “I don’t

even need the music behind me Let me

sing to youirect what I feel about you.”

And of course the band kicks in and we

know when it does the hair on your arm

stands up Yeah Foster thought that will

never play on the radio but Clive Davis

head of Arista Records made the final

call All right The facts are that uh

Kevin Cosner suggested it to Whitney

David Foster and me We all agreed that

that would be a great song for that

airplane scene And David sent me the

first right after Whitney sang it She he

sent me the rough mix and it w did have

the ac capella and it was raw and it was

haunting and so emotionally impactful He

said “Look don’t get demoitis.” they

call it I’m working on it I’m going to

be adding instruments So two weeks

passed Warner Brothers the studio

calling me “We’ve got to come with a

single The movie is about to open.” I’d

call David “Give me your last shot.” And

to me it came off a little slick with

the added instrumentation

So when Warner is called and I had to

make that decision with the ac cappella

intro with the raw

instrumentation that became the single

The film was a blockbuster The

soundtrack the bodyguard became the

bestselling movie soundtrack of all time

and I will always love you was

everywhere Dolly Parton remembers the

first time she heard it on the radio I

was driving at that time from my office

in Nashville to my house in Brentwood

and I heard it when she started singing

that ac cappella

I thought well you know it just I

thought what you know if I should stay

and it it took a minute to realize and

then when when it went into the with the

music part where she said and I

I honestly thought I was going to have a

heart attack It earned Dolly Parton an

estimated $6 to10 million in royalties

during the 1990s money she would later

use to buy her own music publishing

rights and support multiple charitable

causes When Whitney Houston passed away

on February 11th 2012 the world turned

to I will always love you again The very

next night Jennifer Hudson performed it

at the Grammy Awards in tribute

The song returned to the Billboard top

10 It had become Whitney’s defining song

Many listeners don’t even know it was

written by Dolly But Dolly doesn’t mind

People say “Well that’s Whitney song.” I

said “That’s fine You can give her the

credit I just want the cash So send that

check on to me.” In 1993 the song’s

popularity in the UK sparked two real

legal incidents One woman was jailed for

a week after refusing to turn down her

stereo which was blasting I will always

love you on repeat All she did was play

a Whitney Houston record and she’s

serving 7 days in prison for that That

same year in London another woman

reached her limit Her neighbor’s son

wouldn’t stop playing the song

Frustrated she threw the stereo out of a

fourth floor window The neighbor

attacked her and a judge eventually

ordered him to move out and live at a

different address In 2017 during a

commencement speech at USC Will Ferrell

had a heartfelt message for the

graduating class Class of

2017 I just want you to know you will

never be alone on whatever path you may

choose And if you do have a moment where

you feel a little down imagine

me Literally picture my

face singing this

song gently into your

ear And

I

will love you

[Music]

Right there in front of thousands of

students Will Frell sang “I will always

love you.” Because even after all these

years that simple phrase still carries

something powerful Whether it’s sung by

Dolly Parton Whitney Houston or Will

Frell a song born as a private farewell

between two artists became a farewell

that the whole world would one day sing

This is the story of I will always love

You written in one night reborn across

decades and loved forever If you enjoyed

this story don’t miss our episode on

Take My Breath Away and tell us what

song should we explore next This is

Behind the Track