Chords for DOLLY PARTON on WHITNEY HOUSTON — Diva on Diva

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_ _ _ of songwriting um interesting irony because um this song this next song um i heard that
costner and whitney they have this movie coming out and they're gonna redo something you wrote
for that movie yeah i wrote this particular song [Ab] called i will always love you probably 18 years
ago and i had a country record on it number one song then and i did it also in uh the best little
whorehouse in texas [Gbm] with burt reynolds and it became number one again and it's become a favorite
song i [E] always thought if somebody really great would sing it that it could be a big big record
and so if whitney does sing [Ab] it then i think it could be big and i'm glad you asked me to do this
song [Eb] yeah _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Fm] _
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_ [Db] _ _ [Eb] [E] i [A] _ _ [Gbm] _
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was on [D] my way from my office [E] to my house in brentwood [Gbm] tennessee and i had the radio
on and all of a sudden [D] i heard that [N] acapella part with her voice singing that and it was just so
familiar i thought what is this and just the words and it wasn't soaking in and then all of a sudden
i thought that's my song and then i still didn't hit me that it was her and then when she hit the
i will always love you the [Ab] first i will always love you part it was just amazing to me _
_ [Fm] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _
[Fm] i [Db] had the [Eb] same effect when they played it at her funeral when they [Abm] lifted her coffin
[Ab] up in the air and they started playing that song it just i just thought my heart was going to stop
it was just so overwhelming [Eb] _
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[Bbm] but _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ when whitney houston recorded it 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
african-american heritage you from the mountains of east tennessee what went through your mind
when it was whitney houston who brought the song back and made it again such a sensational
bestseller well it was overwhelming if i _ _ should stay [Gb] the way she did it david foster who arranged
and produced it and kevin costner who's the one that just you know wanted to do the song in in
the movie but when i heard her sing it because 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 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 subject uh that we all know and relate to one way or
another whether it's someone that's died or 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
singing that acapella i thought well you know it just i thought what did you know if i should stay
and it took a minute to realize and then when when it went into the with the music part where
she's singing i honestly thought i was going to have a heart [E] attack it was one of the most
_ [B] overwhelming things the _ [Abm] _
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[E] way she did it was spectacular and i could never have done [B] it like
that myself but uh it made me just think well i guess if you got a good song it can be arranged
and produced within almost any style so but that's when i realized that the song was really important
because and could be done anyway it was it was overwhelming people say well that's whitney's song
i said that's fine you can give her the credit i just want the cash so send that check on to me
but it was her song the way that she did that to make that such a worldwide hit mine would have
never done that but since then people have done it as you know as instrumentals as duets and
all of that so it's just one of those simple little songs that says [N] nothing and yet everything
it's very simple and _ um one thing is that uh you know whitney houston gets credited the late great
for i will always love you but that's actually a song penned and also previously recorded by dolly
that's her song yes she made it so much more she did i always told her you know people said that's
whitney's song i said that's okay she can have the credit as long as i get the cash _ _
_ _ _ _ do you remember where you were the first time you heard whitney houston's version of yes
i like to wreck and kill myself i seriously i had uh i had a sad word from uh kevin costner when
they were doing that his secretary had called and said they they wanted a copy of that song
and so i sent it and that's the last i heard of it and so i was driving from my office down on 16th
avenue on music row i was driving to my house in brentwood and um that's when i was still driving
by myself and i'm worrying about it and uh so i had the radio on as usual and i was i just heard
this voice when she did the acapella you know like if i should stay and you know it's like a dog that
its name or something i thought what is that it didn't it didn't register on me what but it was
so familiar and i thought what is that and then she kept saying and it was still i knew i knew
it was something but it didn't register i thought what is that i know what that is and then all of a
sudden she starts into that and when she goes into the i will always love you part honest to
goodness i almost wrecked i had to pull over because i was afraid because i was so caught up
in that by then right uh that i had to pull over and listen to it but it was the most overwhelming
feeling that that little song of mine could be done so beautifully so big so overwhelming
that it really almost just had a heart attack right there on the spot so i'll never forget it
i'm so amazed that they hadn't sent it to you first and said this is they did not they had
asked for the song and i guess they assumed i knew they was doing it right i did not know it
until i heard it on the radio and it just about killed me and it's still one of the the proudest
moments of my whole life really _ _ of all the songs you've written did you have one that was to you a
surprise hit well i'm surprised if any of them are hits because when you write songs you never really
know because if we all knew that i was surprised that uh when whitney houston did i will always
love you that it became such a big hit i was more surprised with with that do you sing it oh every
night that's how i close my show that's my signature song because i always say to my fans
you know thank them for no when you wrote it did you give it a whitney no i i had this a little
story about that song when i first recorded it i it was the number one song for me in 1972 when i
first wrote it then when i did the best little whorehouse in texas with burt reynolds we used
it in that movie and it became a number one song again so it's the first time that the same song
has ever been number one with the same artist then i had a top 10 record as a duet with it with
vince gill and so then whitney did it so it's almost like every you know for every 10 years or
so were you shocked when whitney did it oh yes i was so so saying it right oh i mean who could
ever have done more than that