"I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Her country version of the track was released in 1974 as a single and was written as a farewell to her former business partner and mentor of seven years, Porter Wagoner, following Parton's decision to leave The Porter Wagoner Show and pursue a solo career.[1]
Parton's version of "I Will Always Love You" was a commercial success. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice. It first reached number one in June 1974, and then in October 1982, with her re-recording on the soundtrack of the movie version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Thus, she achieved a number one position twice with the same song, a rare feat that Chubby Checker had done previously with "The Twist" becoming number one in 1960 and again in 1962.
Whitney Houston recorded her version of the song for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Her single spent a then-recordbreaking 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is one of the best-selling singles of all time.[2] It also holds the record for being the best-selling single by a woman in music history.[3] Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" re-entered the charts in 2012 after her death, making it the second single ever to reach the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 in separate chart runs.[4] The song has been recorded by many other artists including Linda Ronstadt,[5] John Doe,[6] Amber Riley, LeAnn Rimes[7] and Sarah Washington, whose dance version reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.Country music singer-songwriter Dolly Parton wrote the song in 1973 for her one-time partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, from whom she was separating professionally after a seven-year partnership.[8][9] She recorded it in RCA Studio B in Nashville on June 12, 1973.[10]
Author Curtis W. Ellison stated that the song "speaks about the breakup of a relationship between a man and a woman that does not descend into unremitting domestic turmoil, but instead envisions parting with respect – because of the initiative of the woman".[11] According to sheet music published at musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Corporation, the country love track is set in a time signature of common time with a tempo of 66 beats per minute. (Larghetto/Adagio)[12] Although Parton found much success with the song, many people are unaware of its origin; during an interview, Parton's manager Danny Nozel said that "one thing we found out from American Idol is that most people don't know that Dolly Parton wrote [the track]".[13] During an interview on The Bobby Bones Show, Dolly Parton revealed that she wrote her signature song "Jolene" on the same day that she wrote "I Will Always Love You."[14][15]
Several times (long before Whitney Houston recorded the song), Dolly Parton suggested to singer Patti LaBelle that she record "I Will Always Love You" because she felt LaBelle could have sung it so well. However, LaBelle
