The staggering success of the song "I Will Always Love You"

OP, There was a lot published about this last year. The number that gets cited the most is $10 million in revenue from the song (though others have reported even more.)

And, apparently, Dolly invested a lot of the proceeds in the Black community in Nashville.

I have no way of understanding how the royalties work but I'd be surprised if she didn't make at least $25M from it.

Fun fact: After Whitney Houston's massive success with the song, she openly bitched that Dolly has no right to sing the song because it has become hers now.

And Dolly is smart. She never said one bitchy word back to Whitney - just kept smiling all the way to the bank.

I will always love Dolly.

Whitney's vocal performance is one of the greatest of all time.

But I sometimes prefer to listen to Dolly's more quiet and emotionally honest version. Bombastic vocals can be exhausting.

Dolly wrote dozens and dozens of songs and I'm sure she gets royalties from plenty of them. "Jolene" alone probably brings in a huge amount of money.

I swear, if I hear somebody say “I hate country music“ all I have to do is ask them “but what about Dolly Parton?“ And at least 99.9% of the time they’ll say “oh I LOVE Dolly Parton!” 🤔

This thread got me thinking... what was the last high-charting mega hit ballad in the U.S.? Not a midtempo number like Miley's 'Flowers', but a true ballad. I can't think of one in recent history. Obviously it doesn't have to be a massive #1 like I Will Always Love You, but just a big hit ballad that most folks would know.

R8, maybe Miley’s Wrecking Ball?

I like Linda Ronstadt's cover, too. Dolly sings backup on it.

Dolly Parton is a saint.

Good for Dolly for not giving lazy, greedy-ass Elvis an unearned piece of her work!

R2 Whitney was most likely high when she said that. Whitney was so beautiful and humble; goddam tragedy how drugs ruined her.

Am I alone in not like Whitney Houston's version? Of course, I thought it was great before I heard Dolly sing it. Then I understood that it was just a sweet little song rather than this power ballad. Now I cringe when I hear that key change and Whitney blasting out "And IIIIIIIIIIIII."

r12

It was Colonel Tom Parker who approached her to broker the deal.

R9 - that's an interesting one. I guess I could see an argument for Wrecking Ball as a power ballad. It feels a little more midtempo to me, but perhaps that's splitting hairs. I can't stand the song, but it was an undeniable monster hit.

R15 was just coming here to say it's unlikely Elvis would have made that request, more like his scuzzy 'manager'. I love the Dolly version.

R8 Halo was a huge hit but never reached number one. Perhaps Love on the Brain by Rihanna. Again a big hit; I think it reached number one on pop radio chart, Top 40 mainstream, but not on the main billboard chart.

R8 Easy On Me by Adele. I just thought of it. That was in 2021.

R18 - oh, yes, Halo, for sure.

R19 - of course! Can't believe I forgot Adele. One of the few artists today who can make ballads big hits.

I wonder why ballads as singles went out of fashion.

Mariah's We Belong Together broke all sorts of records in 2005 and stayed at no.1 for 14 weeks (tied with IWALY).

Leave the Door Open could also be described as a ballot with rap influenced verses.

the money in publishing (song writing) is insane. I know someone who inherited the rights to a few pop songs we all know and its enough to live a nice life on. The movie about a boy had hugh grant playing a guy who's dead father wrote one novelty christmas song and he just lives off the royalties.

r23 - I mean, sure, if they're massive and/or enduring hits. That's a tiny percentage of all songs published.

According to the Rialto Report, Andrea True, the singer of "More More More" (#3 Billboard,1976), was earning $60,000 a year in royalties from that one song at the time of her death in 2011. And she wasn't even credited as a writer, although she wrote the lyrics.

Isn't More More More about getting a big cock deep inside?

What pop song isn't, R26?

R14 same. Whitney turned the ghetto on for that rendition.

"turned the ghetto on"??? Jesus, R28. I'm surprised you didn't call her Aunt Jemima.

Dutchie are you ok? There is nothing ghetto about the way in which Whitney executed her vocal performance on the track. Even her regular speaking voice and diction was not ghetto. And don’t give me one off sayings from when she was clearly high off drugs on Being Bobby Brown.

Whitney nailed that song and that key change. It’s iconic. If you don’t like it then I’d say you’re in the minority.

R8, Barry Manilow never charted the way you describe? He never released a ballad that took off and dominated the charts?

From a quick search, I found this: He has recorded and released 51 Top 40 singles on the Adult Contemporary Chart, including 13 that hit number one, 28 that appeared within the top ten, and 36 that reached the top twenty. Manilow has released 13 platinum and six multi-platinum albums.

13 reached #1...

R32 ?????????????????????????????????

Tracy Chapman is sole owner of the rights to Fast Car. She is the first black female solo writer of a #1 country song and has already earned major royalties from the recent cover. The irony being that country music wouldn’t give the time of day to a black female lesbian artist who tried to sing her own way into the country scene.

That’s the beauty and power of music to me. That it can be performed and interpreted so many different ways. I wish people would start treating music and song as they do film. For some reason people are more restrictive when it comes to recorded music.

Or there’s a lesson in there for the country music industry about being more receptive and supportive of different types of artist. The current cover is pretty white bread—pun intended. But the credit and the cash go to Tracy, where it belongs.

I love Dolly, but to me it's the most boring song ever, sung mostly insincerely by imitators.

I love Dolly, but to me it's the most boring song ever, sung mostly insincerely by imitators.

Re Whitney vs. Dolly version -I prefer singing not screaming

In context of the Best Little Whorehouse movie, Dolly's was lovely

Imagine how I could have lived if daddy owned half of that song's royalties? I wouldn't have had to scrape by on less than $100,000/mo.

R28 Dutchie? More Like Grand Wizard

R34 "She is the first black female solo writer of a #1 country song"

But the original isn't a country song. It's a folk song. Unless you are talking about a country cover

I love you, Dutchie, so I'm going to assume (despite your excellent English) that you don't quite understand the meaning of "ghetto" as an adjective. "Broadway" or "belter" would be a more apt description of Whitney's version.

Related to both The Bodyguard and lucrative publishing rights: back when RuPaul was doing his podcast, he was always teasing Michele Visage for her windfall from rapping on the execrable "It's Gonna be a Lovely Day" on The Bodyguard soundtrack.

R43 we are talking about that…exact thing. If you could be bothered to see the link you’d already know that.

R46 I don't do links

Then cine out from under your rock and simply Google the song title.

Such a lousy song. Sappy and ultimately meaningless.

Why the fuck is she yammering about ending it, not having it and always loving the jerk?

"I Can't Make You Love Me" does the same message with an authentic presentation of mood, sense and outcome than an anthem about lost love.

R14 and R28 Whitney Houston, undoubtedly a phenom or our time, was all about the voice and technique. I never felt there was any pathos or emotion in anything she sang. Her cover of the song, vocally amazing. However, I LOVE Dolly's original version far more because there is emotion in how Dolly sings it. It's believable that she's singing a love song through heartbreak.

r49 - the song is not about a romantic relationship.

Adele only sings ballads. "Someone Like You" is certainly a ballad.

Dolly said in several interviews many many years ago that she earned $18 million from Whitney’s version of her song. And that was maybe 20 years ago. I loathe the Whitney version of the song.

Yea—Europeans should stay away from using “ghetto” outside the context of 20th century European history. It’s a bad enough look on Americans, but it’s plain bigotry crimino from overseas.

I understand why it was a big sentimental hit, but can't listen to it all the way through. She gave it about the same emotion as her Coke commercials.

[quote]Whitney nailed that song and that key change. It’s iconic.

The still photo of a bullet hitting JFK in the head is iconic. Iconic isn't always good.

That "...and IIIIIIII..." is like a claxon blowing you out of your chair.

I remember Dolly saying that her version of the song had her smiling all the way to the bank and then after "The Bodyguard" came out: "I bought the bank!"

R24 try me at 125k annually

Oh, I forgot. I don't agree with Dutchie's assessment that Whitney's version is somehow "ghetto." If "ghetto" means black from his use of the term, and we're to infer "soul" in the context of music, then he's wrong. Whitney had no soul. Don't get me wrong, I do like a lot of WH music, e.g. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and "How Will I Know." But these are pop songs, not "ghetto" (using his term).

Whitney

I will always love heroin

R59

Dutchie was wrong. the end.

I remember being a kid when Whitney’s version came out and shaking my head at all the basic chicks completely missing the meaning of the song and using it at their weddings.

r62, a couple of weeks ago, someone posted that a couple he knew had used "Different Drum" as a wedding song. I wonder how long either marriage will last.

I'm waiting to hear that someone used "Long, Long Time."

R12, It wasn't Elvis who was demanding; it was never Elvis, a genuine philanthropist

It was "Colonel" Tom Parker.

It's beyond tiring to read unwarranted attacks on Elvis. People who do no reading, no research, no anything but listening to other ignorant people.

I always remember the weirdness of the coffee mug sitting next to her chair in the music video and Whitney styled like an early 90s lawyer

The difference between Dolly's and Whitney's versions is like having a cup of coffee at your local Starbucks and watching the N bomb hitting Hiroshima. Love Dolly to shreds for her talent and personality, but Whitney deserves some credit for taking this song to a different stratosphere. Not necessarily in financial terms, because the sole ownership of a song should belong to its author. Therefore the copyright demands on behalf of a performer like Presley, Madonna, Carrey and many others - despite being a standard procedure in show biz - are utterly repulsive. Can you imagine Ella putting such demands on good ole Cole?

[quote]Whitney deserves some credit for taking this song to a different stratosphere.

That's not a good thing. Dolly sings it like a real person who happens to have a beautiful voice. Whitney belts it in the same generic way she belted everything, just because she could. There's more to singing than hitting the notes.

R67 There is nothing generic about the way Whitney sings this song and I am usually not a fan of these smaltzy love ballads. I guess it’s cool to be different but it’s just beautiful executed how she sings the ballad, from the opening acapaella to the final verse and then the explosion of the final chorus with the key change and vocal acrobatics. And it isn’t over sung at all; that’s what makes it so great.

And let’s not forget about that beautiful saxophone solo. It’s one of the best recorded singles of the 90s that music mags downplay because it isn’t edgy or subversive. I usually love edgy and subversive but sometimes clean is just beautiful and perfect.

Allow me to disagree [R67] .... there is more to music than repeating the exact notes as written and/or performed by the author. It's called interpretation. Just listen to "Summertime" by Ella Fitzgerald and Janis Joplin. Both quite different but fabulous. Just like in the case of ILALY.

R66 Mariah genuinely co-writes all of her own songs, she doesn't just stick her name on them.

R69 None of those chicas hold a candle next to our version.

[quote]ILALY

OD. (IWALY)

Yeah, right [R70] .... and how about Santa Claus? Is he real too?

Have this made feel better about yourself [R72]?

Have this made you feel better about yourself [[R72]]?

R43 That’s what he was referring to, the cover because I was about to correct the poster as well but then I saw he was referring to the cover. Chapmans version is folk as you state.

[quote]Have this made feel better about yourself

[quote]Have this made feel better about yourself

Oh, double dear!

Oh, well ....

I remember back in the 90s reading about a young guy in England who was arrested for breaking into the flat upstairs and throwing his neighbor's stereo out the window. Why? Because they kept blasting Whitney's cover of I Will Always Love You over and over and over.

I felt they arrested the wrong person. I fucking hate Whitney's cover. I never actually liked Whitney at all. The only good thing about it is the money it made for Dolly. Dolly's version is full of emotion, Whitney's is all bombast.

Fuck Whitney. The most over-rated singer of the 20th century. She spawned legion of terrible imitators as well, and I blame her for a sharp reduction in nuance in pop music.

R1, did she really say that?That's messed up.

sorry, that was meant for R2.

Dolly wrote IWALY and Jolene on the same day. She was 26 years old.

R82 I wonder if Dolly realised she'd just written the 2 most important songs of her career on that day, songs that will be known for generations. And if she did have that idea, did she reward her hard toil with a didde-diddle of her pussy?!

R82 I wonder if Dolly realised she'd just written the 2 most important songs of her career on that day, songs that will be known for generations. And if she did have that idea, did she reward her hard toil with a didde-diddle of her pussy?!

R82 I wonder if Dolly realised she'd just written the 2 most important songs of her career on that day, songs that will be known for generations. And if she did have that idea, did she reward her hard toil with a didde-diddle of her pussy?!

R82 I wonder if Dolly realised she'd just written the 2 most important songs of her career on that day, songs that will be known for generations. And if she did have that idea, did she reward her hard toil with a didde-diddle of her pussy?!

I hope Dolly reads DL. After the 4th post she must have realized it ....

R86 Jolene never charted high and is a brilliant song that has stood the test of time. Today some DL elder queen would call it a failure because it didn’t chart in the top 10 on billboard. That’s how pedestrian they are. Dolly’s version of IWALY never really charted high as well. That’s because good music even by a popular artist may not find an audience immediately. But when it does it grows like a virus and it’s forever loved for the brilliant art that it is.

R88, another artist I can think of like that is Nina Simone. She was the definitely of unpopular on the billboard charts. But her influence is immense and she actually is loved more today than when she was alive.

"Staggering," OP?

More likely you're falling over because you're drunk, OP. After all, it's just a pop song by a country singer.

I much prefer Dolly's version. Can't stand Whitney's.

If not for Faye Dunaway most of DL members would not bother reading about Joan Crawford. The same goes for Whitney Houston bringing "IWALY" out of oblivion. And that's the truth! Now, can you handle it?

No, Dolly's version of I Will Always Love You was a hit - it went to #1 on the country charts. Dolly was huge at the time - she'd already put out a greatest hits record, she'd done the television show with Porter Wagoner for several years, etc. It was only later that she made a conscious decision to go for the pop/crossover audience.

Nina Simone - there's somebody else I don't understand. I don't think she's such a great singer - full of annoying mannerisms. I think she's a white person's idea of soul and so white hipster types really love her. It really makes a difference when you're singing your own songs.

R92, it's the other way around. If not for Joan Crawford, most would have never heard of Faye Dunaway.

My favorite Dolly Parton song is "Light of a Clear Blue Morning," partly because it accompanied a getting-back-together with a good friend when it came out in 1977. Plus it's just a great song. Does anyone remember whether it made it to the jukebox at the Ninth Circle?

"I Will Always Love You" is a Linda Ronstadt song for me, from her Prisoner in Disguise album, which I have listened to hundreds of times since 1976. I didn't hear Dolly's version until Whitney did the song in 1992. I wish Linda had recorded that last verse, which both Dolly and Whitney included in their versions. But I didn't know it was there to miss.

Please R92, have you seen "Bonnie and Clyde", "Chinatown" or "Network" to name a few. Faye did bring Joan Crawford out of the Hollywood Has Been Alley, killing her own career in the process.

R8 Gaga's Shallow was a number one hit, unavoidably huge and easily the biggest ballad in a long while.

I think it's one of the most streamed songs of all time.

Why did Whitney decide to do crack? I never understood that. Normally, even hardcore addicts stay away from that stuff.

R97 Shallow was not a number one hit. Number one hits have always been defined as those that hit number number on the Hot 100 billboard chart. That’s why I always say peak positions are meaningless and it’s all relative to what else is out and also how a song builds it’s momentum.

Oh actually I’m wrong, you are correct.

R98 I don’t think she ever did crack. I think that was just racial politics. She was most certainly a cocaine addict; all the classic symptoms. Cocaine can be just as addictive as crack it’s just not as intense while doing it so people can manage it better until they reach the point of no return in which they need rehab to kick the habit.

Good question R98, I will be taking a part in a séance this Thursday, hoping to find the answer ...

R93, with all due respect , Nina Simone may not have had the best voice but she is arguably one of the greatest musical artists of the 20th century and is cited by a who’s who of the musical pantheon as an influence.

Buck would have never done coke.

R103, you are correct, black AND white artists have referenced Nina for a long, long time. Black people were the first to love her. She was black and unapologetic about it. Aretha covered her "Young, Gifted and Black" song.

R105, Aretha and Elton John were both big fans. This clip of a live performance is an example of really how remarkable her talent was and perfect example of taking someone else’s song and elevating it to a something greater.

R106, she's amazing. Admittedly, I use to think she was too mannered as well but I dug into her catalogue and I really enjoy her and "get" her now. I heard her cover of "Here Comes the Sun" and she turns it into a completely different song. It's like she's waking up and seeing the sun for the firs time.

I've never understood the absolute control that Col. Parker had over Elvis. I wonder if ELvis even knew about the whole IWALY kerfuffle twixt Parton and Parker. Pretty sure E would have taken the song to #1 again.

[quote]I remember being a kid when Whitney’s version came out and shaking my head at all the basic chicks completely missing the meaning of the song and using it at their weddings.

Also, the Police's "Every Breath You Take," which is basically being sung by a stalker.

Mentioning Lady Gaga in this thread is no different than farting during a rim job!

I'll probably get blasted for this, but I hate that song. I love Dolly though. I just never could stand that song.

R109, I"ve told people that the song is about stalking and they don't believe me.

Use your imagination.

Linda Ronstead had the best version. She sang it from the heart and not the crackpipe

My favorite story about the song, is that Dolly and Whitney apparently never spoke or met before the song. Allegedly, after it became a huge success, Dolly reached out to Whitney to see if she would collaborate with her on a new song. Whitney hung up the phone on her. Probably was high.

R115 That’s sad that Whitney never got her drug addiction under control. I never realized she was that far gone that soon in the early 90s.

Lord, how I wish Debra Wilson included that scene mentioned by R115 in one of her Whitney skits on Mad TV.

R116 I think Whitney was really angry person from having to be a closeted lesbian because of her psycho, religious mother

Debra Wilson as Whitney

Debra Wilson is a comedy genius

Yes, she is one of a kind R120! Her Whitney and Oprah are pure comedy gold. Wish she had enjoyed a higher level of success.

R115 that reminds me of a Madonna tale where the guy who wrote Like A Virgin or Material Girl met Madge years later and introduced himself as the writer and she said "oh you must be thrilled to meet me" or something cold, then turned away. It made him laugh. Anyone heard this?

R122, they said something like "it's great to finally meet you" and her response was "and now you have" and she walked away. This was when she was dating Warren Beatty.

[quote]Linda Ronstead

Oh, dear.

I always liked Linden Reinstädt.

[quote] they said something like "it's great to finally meet you" and her (Madonna) response was "and now you have" and she walked away.

This and Goop's "I wish you well" are among my all-time favorite bitchfest moments.

You just made me do a spit take reminding me of "I wish you well," R126. That shit will never not be funny!

WTF? The song as heard while on an acid trip.

R51, the backstory of the song has nothing to so with all the pomposity, smugness, and bellowing that has come from it.

But since it's a year after your post and you're probably in the home now.

R122 This is from an interview with the guys who wrote the song.

A. Tom and I met her several years later, I don't remember exactly. Madonna"s manager was a guy named Freddy DeMann and he was having a big party for his fiftieth birthday. Tom and I were invited to that party and that's where we met Madonna - the only time we ever did meet her. Q. Were you and Tom able to give her any feedback about "Like a Virgin"? A. I don't think she was interested in feedback. We met her and she was with Warren Beatty. I was introduced to her and Tom and I were there together and I said, "Madonna, it's great to meet you. I've wanted to meet you for so long," and she said, "Well now you did," and walked away. So there was no feedback. There was nothing like, "Great song guys!," or "What are you doing now?" None of that.