“I Will Always Love You,” later popularized by the late Whitney Houston, is an iconic song in music history.
Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics center on the end of a professional relationship, rather than a romantic one.
Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parton performed with her mentor Porter Wagoner and appeared on his eponymous TV show. But when Parton was ready to leave the show and spearhead her own career, a rift began to form between the pair.
“There was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn’t listening to my reasoning for my going,” Parton told CMT in a 2011 interview. “I thought, ‘Well, why don’t you do what you do best? Why don’t you just write this song?'”
Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” later that day and sang it to him the next.
“He started crying,” Parton told the Tennessean in 2015. “When I finished, he said, ‘Well, hell! If you feel that strong about it, just go on — providing I get to produce that record because that’s the best song you ever wrote.'”
