Dolly Parton: ‘I Cried All Night’ after She Said ‘No’ to Elvis Presley. Here’s Why.
Dolly Parton recently joined her fellow country music superstar, on the podcast, “Living and Learning with Reba McEntire” – and dished the details of an interesting request from Elvis Presley… which made her cry all night.
Parton says that Presley wanted to record her hit, “I Will Always Love You.” She says, “I was so excited, I told everybody. They had called me, that Elvis was recording it, and if I wanted to come to the studio… Elvis wanted to meet me and all that.”
Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was a very smart and savvy businessman, told Dolly that if Elvis recorded it he would want to get the publishing (income) from the record, or at the very least part of the publishing.
“Well, that throws new light on this because I can’t give you half the publishing,” said Dolly. “I’m gonna leave that to my family. I can’t do that.” After that conversation, Elvis did not record the song. And Dolly was upset about it. “I cried all night,” she admits. “Oh, I just pictured Elvis, like, singing it. And I know that Elvis loved it. And I know it wasn’t him, but it’s true. I said no.”