I Will Always Love You

This song has been covered many, many times. But the original is still the best. Sure Whitney Houston did a good job with it in "The Bodyguard". Her version was #1 for 14 weeks according to Billboard. Elvis Presley even wanted to cut it but he wanted to split the royalties and Dolly said no.


The song was written to her former mentor and rumored ex-lover, Porter Wagoner. He discovered her and brought her onto work on his radio show. They recorded several duets and worked together for 9 years until she decided to break away and be a solo artist in 1976. One of the saddest, sweetest thing I've seen was when Dolly sang the song to Porter Wagoner last May on the stage of the Opry. He would die 6 months later. It's in the Youtube video below.



If I should stay
Well I would only be in your way
And so I'll go, and yet I know
That I'll think of you each step of my way

And I will always love you
I will always love you

Bittersweet memories
That's all I have and all I'm taking with me
Good-bye, oh please don't cry
Cause we both know that I'm not what you need

But I will always love you
I will always love you

And I hope life will treat you kind
And I hope that you have all
That you ever dreamed of
Oh I do wish you joy and I wish you happiness
But above all of this, I wish you love
I love you, I will always love you

I, I will always, always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you