Dolly Parton's Emotional Interview with Dan Rather

when you wrote um I will always love you

and Elvis Presley was going to record it

and suddenly you said whoa no tell me

about that well actually Elvis loved the

song that was when he and Priscilla were

having their problems which I met her

recently and she told me that Elvis

loved that song and he had sung that to

her on the day of their divorce she he

said she he kind of leaned in and sang a

little bit of I will always love you and

so she told me how much that he loved

that song this was recently we were

doing some business but during that time

it's no fault of Elvis you know he loved

the song but Tom Parker was in defense

of Tom Parker too Tom his manager you

know he made some wise decisions

evidently so he knew what he was doing

but that was goes back to that other

thing cuz Elvis was ready to record it I

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 I said really which US you say he

would have the rights he would have the

rights at least half half of the the

rights to the publishing of the song I

said I can't do that 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 because that's stuff that I'm

leaving for my family and uh he said

well then we can't record the song and I

was just heartbroken I said well I'm

really sorry but I can't do

that that took guts well it didn't to me

it seemed to be the thing to do I it

hurt me because I was so disappointed I

was going to have to tell my friends IIs

didn't record it and but I just knew

that that was not right and that that

was not if it had been maybe if I didn't

have my own publishing company had the

song not already been a hit it might

have been different but I couldn't give

somebody half of a song that had already

been number one and that was you know

was evident had already proved itself so

well you had some Redemption Whitney

Houston then many years later that's

true when Whitney recorded I was think

oh good cuz now I Own 100% of the

publishing 100% of the writing and I did

really well with that but I didn't blame

El and I didn't blame Colonel Tom either

I it was a decision I had to make at the

time and I'm glad I did but when when

Houston recorded which made it a

worldwide hit all over again not only

made you a lot of money that's true but

also as you yourself said you said hey

here it comes again that really was a

great song My question is Whitney

Houston uh African-American Heritage you

from the mountains of East

Tennessee what went through your mind

when it was with Houston who brought the

song back and made it again such a

sensational bestseller well it was

overwhelming cuz I'd always loved her

singing anyway I mean what a voice she

had I mean at that time nobody could out

sing her but when I heard it I my heart

just stopped I just couldn't believe

that my little song my little simple

song that was written straight from my

heart you know about a a subject uh that

we all know and relate to one way or

another whether it's someone that's died

or our kids going off to school people

relate to that song in so many ways but

anyway when I heard her sing it I could

not believe it I almost I was driving at

that time from my office in Nashville to

my house in Brentwood and I heard it

when she started saying that AC

capella 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 was saying and I I

honestly thought I was going to have a

heart attack remarkably uh successful

businesswoman how has that happened well

my dad was like that my dad raised 12

children my daddy could not read nor

write never had a chance to go to school

but my daddy was so smart you know he

was just I've just always wondered what

all my Daddy might have been able to do

had he had an education but I my daddy I

watched him maneuver I watched how he

would he could trade and barter and you

know it's like he would what they call

it good Horse Sense or horse trading

they call it Street smarts if you're

from the city but good old country Horse

Sense my daddy was so smart and I just

watched him through the years and my

daddy was also one of those people that

was really willing to work he was up all

the time up early having to farm before

he went to work on construction or doing

whatever he had to do to to keep food on

the table but he always just managed to

make some of the best deals and some of

the best choices

and I I was very influenced by that now

I got my music from my mother's side of

the family and most musical people

musicians don't want to work at anything

else so I got my work ethic from my dad

I got my music from my mama and I tried

in the early days when when uh when I

would think about it and I started

seeing that I could make money at this I

thought well they do call this the music

business so why don't I kind of lay a

little heavy on the business side of

things so I got to think and you know uh

what I should do to make it really

profitable not just to sing and just let

the money roll in and let it be gone

before you think about it so I started

thinking about uh keeping my publishing

to myself you know publishing my own

song starting my own publishing company

and just different things like that that

I thought would be you know smart

business so through the years I have

been lucky and made some really good

choices but I I've got a lot of good

people that's helped me a lot too I owe

a lot of My Success to a lot of smart

people but I'm thinking of of a young

say an 18-year-old Dolly Parton in

Nashville trying to make it

talented

uh in that period there weren't many

opportunities for women bluntly put how

did you keep the men off of you and keep

your your mind and their mind on

business and therefore build a business

which is now tens of millions of dollars

a year business when I was young you got

to remember I first of all believed in

my talent I really believed that I was

heading to Nashville with something to

sell I thought my songs were good and I

thought I was you know good enough

singer that I could pull that off and I

had all these brothers so I knew men I

had my dad my uncles that I loved and my

grandpas so I knew how men thought I

knew them all so well and I always said

I kind of I look like a woman but I can

also think like a man so I was not

intimidated and I was a right pretty

girl you know for for the times you know

a little overdone of course but I used

that you know I was not intimidated I

took it as a compliment when men thought

I was if they thought I was pretty uh I

thought well this is all good I can use

this to my benefit but I did not uh use

it for anything other than to know what

to do uh I knew that I had something and

I would say things like look I think I

can make us both a lot of money if you

want to you know work with me on this

and if sometimes some men did get you

know a little out of line a little out

of place but I knew how to manage that

without hurting her feelings to

compliment them or not to take it as an

insult cuz it wasn't but if someone did

get out of hand I would know kind of

what to say so I never slept with

anybody to get anywhere if I slept with

somebody is because I wanted to not to

try to get the head in the business so I

just with some people especially with me

being overdone and OV exaggerated with

the makeup and the hair and and the way

I dressed uh some people might have

thought I was dumb but I would have the

deal done and gone before they realized

what had happened so I would I just

looked at it like a business and I I was

always proud to be a woman I never took

their flirt and as an insult I thought

it was a compliment but I knew how to

handle it