24 | BIGISSUE.COM FROM 30 NOVEMBER 2020
without a cause, I was not a rebellious child. I did it with grace and
style. I wasn’t out to cause any grief at all for my mom or dad. ButI
was willing to take whatever punishment I might have got for going
against somebody’s ruling. I am strong in my beliefs. There is anold
saying, to thine own self be true. That has followed me all the daysof
my life.
I know who I am. I know what I’m not. I know what I can and
cannot do. I don’t get myself involved in things that I know are outofmy
realm. But if there’s something I can do and I want to do, hell or high
water ain’t gonna stop me. I’m an easy person to work with, but Iwill
not bend to your ways if they go against mine. I have my standardsand
my principles and if you push me to a point that does not agree withmy
soul, I will call you on it, and I will not compromise. I don’t feel likeI have
to answer to anyone but myself and to God. That’s my rule.
It’s true I would not compromise with Colonel Tom [Parker,
Elvis Presley’s manager]. Elvis wanted to record I Will Always LoveYou.
They planned the session, and told me they were recording the song.
I’d been invited down to the studio to meet Elvis and be there whenhe
sang my song. That was the most exciting thing that had ever happened
to me. Who doesn’t love Elvis? But then Colonel called me the afternoon
before the session and said, you do know we have to have at leasthalf
the publishing on any song that Elvis records? And I said no, I didnot
know that. He said, well, it’s just a rule. So I said, well, it’s not myrule.
I said, I hate this more than you could even imagine but I cannot give
you half the publishing. I just can’t do it and I won’t do it. I Will Always
Love You had been a number one song with me already, it was the most
important song in my catalogue. 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. Priscilla told me later that he sang that
song to her when they were coming down the steps of the courthouse
after they divorced. That really touched me and I thought, oh well, I can
only imagine. But it wasn’t his fault. I found out later that Colonel Tom
had an even bigger demand for any brand new song Elvis recorded; in
those cases 100 per cent of the publishing went to them. Yeah, Tom
was a strict manager, he was a good manager and I don’t blame him for
asking, but I don’t blame me for saying no.
When you write songs you don’t know what’s going to be a hit. As
a songwriter you know when some songs are better than others and I
knew that I Will Always Love You was probably one of the best things
that I’d written, because it came from so much heart and soul. But you
never know what’s going to be a hit or everybody would be rich. I knew
it was a good song but I had no idea that it could ever become what it
did, after Whitney recorded it and it went into such a big hit movie [The
Bodyguard]. I’ll always be grateful to Kevin Costner and obviously I’ll
always be grateful to and always love Whitney Houston.
Jolene and I Will Always Love You were on the same album [1974’s
Jolene]. In fact they came from the same cassette so it is possible that
I wrote those two songs in the same day. Jolene is a song about... you
know, I’ve got my pride and I’ve got my strength. But when I write a
song, I’m vulnerable at those moments. I leave my heart out on my
sleeve. I’ve always said I have to leave my heart open in order to receive
those kind of songs. I have to feel everything to be a real songwriter.
And yes, a lot of my songs are kind of melancholy. Some of them are
sad, and some of them are pitiful. And I mean for them to be pitiful,
those really sad songs like Little Sparrow or Jeannie’s Afraid of the
Dark. I have a big imagination and I become whoever I’m writing
about. It’s like starring in a movie; I am that character in that song. So
when I wrote it, I was Jolene.
Jolene has been recorded more than any other song that I have
ever written. It has been recorded worldwide over 400 times in lots
of different languages, by lots of different bands. The White Stripes
did a wonderful job of it, and many other people. But nobody’s ever
had a really big hit record on it. I’ve always hoped somebody might do
someday, someone like Beyoncé.What I would say to my young self is all those dreams, they are
going to come true. It’s not going to all be fun and games, you’re going1960 The Partons pose
for a pic (Dolly back right)
during a family Christmas1974
Performing onstage as
she starts to become a
household namePhoto:
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Photo:
Nancy Barr/Mediapunch/Shutterstock