The song, "
I Will Always Love You" was originally written and recorded in 1973 by American
singer-songwriter,
Dolly Parton.
[3] Her
country version of the track was released in 1974 as a single and was written as a farewell to her one-time partner and mentor of seven years,
Porter Wagoner, following Parton's decision to pursue a solo career.
[4][3]
Parton's version of "I Will Always Love You" was a commercial success. It reached number one on the
Billboard Hot Country Songschart twice. It first reached number one in June 1974, and then in October 1982, with her re-recording on the
soundtrack of the movie version of
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, making Parton the first singer ever to achieve the number one position twice with the same song.
Whitney Houston recorded her version of the song for the 1992 film
The Bodyguard. Her single spent 14 weeks at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart making it one of the
best-selling singles of all time.[5] It also holds the record for being the best-selling single by a woman in music history.
[6] Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" re-entered the charts in 2012 after her death, making it the second single ever to reach the top three on the
Billboard Hot 100 in separate chart runs.
[7] The song has been recorded by many other significant artists including
Linda Ronstadt and
John Doe.
Dolly Parton original version[edit]
Background and composition[edit]
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An 18 second sample of Parton's 1982 recording of "I Will Always Love You".
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Problems playing this file? See media help. |
A-side label of the original 1974 45 rpm release
Author Curtis W. Ellison stated that the song "speaks about the breakup of a relationship between a man and a woman that does not descend into unremitting domestic turmoil, but instead envisions parting with respect – because of the initiative of the woman".
[1]According to sheet music published at musicnotes.com by
Hal Leonard Corporation, the
country love track is set in a
time signature of
common time with a
tempo of 66
beats per minute. (Larghetto/Adagio)
[11] Although Parton found much success with the song, many people are unaware of its origin; during an interview, Parton's manager Danny Nozel said that "one thing we found out from
American Idol is that most people don't know that Dolly Parton wrote [the track]".
[12]
Reception[edit]
During its original release in 1974, "I Will Always Love You" reached number four in Canada on the Canadian
RPM Country Tracks chart and peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, becoming one of the best selling singles of 1974.
[13]
When Parton re-recorded the song in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the track was issued as a single and once again charted at number one on Hot Country Songs — making her the first artist ever to earn a number one record twice with the same song.
[1] After recording a duet with
Vince Gill in 1995, "I Will Always Love You" re-entered the
Billboard chart and peaked at number 15.
[14] Another duet version of the song was released in 2017 with
Michael Bolton from his album
Songs of Cinema.
When the 1974 recording of the song was reaching number one on the country charts,
Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager,
Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded.
[15] Parton refused. She recalls:
I said, 'I'm really sorry,' and I cried all night. I mean, it was like the worst thing. You know, it's like, Oh, my God … Elvis Presley.' And other people were saying, 'You're nuts. It's Elvis Presley.' ...I said, 'I can't do that. Something in my heart says, 'Don't do that. And I just didn't do it... He would have killed it. But anyway, so he didn't. Then when Whitney [Houston's version] came out, I made enough money to buy Graceland.
[16]
Critical reception[edit]
In Curtis W. Ellison's book
Country Music Culture: From Hard Times to Heaven (1995), he stated: "In the early 1990s, when ambiguity in romantic relationships accompanies changing expectations for both men and women, this song demonstrates Dolly Parton's appeal as a songwriter in the pop music market."
[1] Ken Knight, author of
The Midnight Show: Late Night Cable-TV "Guy-Flicks" of the '80s (2008), commented that Parton is the only singer who can sing "I Will Always Love You" and "make it memorable".
[17] Writer Paul Simpson criticized the singer, stating that the track was only written to "soften the blow" of Parton and Wagoner's split.
[18]
Track listing[edit]
- "I Will Always Love You" – 2:53
- "Lonely Comin' Down" – 3:09
Credits and personnel[edit]
- Dolly Parton – vocals, guitar
- Jimmy Colvard – guitar
- Chip Young – guitar
- Stu Basore – pedal steel guitar
- Bobby Dyson – bass
- Larrie Londin – drums
- Ralph Gallant – drums
- Buck Trent – banjo
- Bobby Thompson – banjo
- Mack Magaha – fiddle
- Johnny Gimble – fiddle
- Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
- Dolores Edgin – background vocals
- Hershel Winginton – background vocals
- Joe Babcock – background vocals
- June Page – background vocals
Controversy[edit]
After Whitney Houston's recording of the song became a hit in 1992, the
tabloid press began reporting on a 'feud' between the two performers, stemming from Dolly Parton allegedly reneging on an agreement that she would not perform the song for a number of months while Houston's version was on the charts, so as not to compete with Houston's recording. However, both Parton and Houston dispelled any rumors speaking glowingly of one another in interviews.
[23][24] Houston praised Parton for writing a beautiful song. In return, Parton thanked Houston for bringing her song to a wider audience and increasing the amount of
royalties for her song in the process. Dolly Parton also gave a live interview, confirming this.
When Houston won the Record of the Year award at the 1994 Grammy Awards for the recording, Parton (along with
David Foster) presented her with the award.
In a statement to
Billboard on the day of Houston's death in February 2012, Parton said:
Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, 'Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'
[25]
Whitney Houston version[edit]
Background[edit]
In 1992, R&B singer
Whitney Houston recorded a new arrangement of "I Will Always Love You" for
the soundtrack to
The Bodyguard, her film debut. She was originally to record
Jimmy Ruffin's "
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" as the lead single from
The Bodyguard. However, when it was discovered the song was to be used for
Fried Green Tomatoes, Houston requested a different song. It was her co-star
Kevin Costner who suggested "I Will Always Love You", playing her
Linda Ronstadt's 1975 version from her album
Prisoner in Disguise.
[26][27] Producer David Foster re-arranged the song as an
R&B ballad. Her record company did not feel a song with an
a cappella introduction would be as successful; however, Houston and Costner insisted on retaining it. When Parton heard that Houston was using Ronstadt's recording as a template, she called Foster to give him the final verse, which was missing from the Ronstadt recording, as she felt it was important to the song. The tenor saxophone solo was played by
Kirk Whalum. Whitney Houston's recording is not the only version of the song featured in the movie. In a scene where she dances with Kevin Costner, a version by
John Doe can be heard playing on a jukebox.
Houston's version was a massive worldwide success. It appears at No. 9 on NME's Greatest No 1 Singles in History list.
[28] In 2004, Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" finished at #65 on
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
[29] It was also ranked at number 22 on
The Guardian's list of Britain's favorite 100 songs, published in May 2002.
[30] In February 2014, the song was placed at number six on
Billboard's list of the Top 50 'Love' Songs of All Time.
[31]
Reception[edit]
The single spent 14 weeks at the top of the US
Billboard Hot 100, which at the time was a record.
[33][34] It became Houston's longest run at number one, surpassing her previous record of three weeks with the "
Greatest Love of All" in 1986. It is also the longest running number one single from a soundtrack album.
It debuted at number 40 on the
Billboard Hot 100, and became Houston's tenth number one entry two weeks later. It also dominated other
Billboard charts, spending 14 weeks at the top of
Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart, and 11 weeks at number one on its
Hot 100 Airplay chart. The song also remained at number one for five weeks on the
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, and for 11 weeks on the
Hot R&B Singles chart becoming the longest running number one on the R&B charts at the time; it remained in the top 40 for 24 weeks.
[35][36][37] It became
Arista Records' biggest hit. The song was number one on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and R&B chart simultaneously for a record-equaling five weeks; Ray Charles' "
I Can't Stop Loving You" in 1962 achieved the same feat on the same charts.
[38]
The song stayed at number one in the United States throughout January and February 1993, making it the first time
Billboard did not rank a new number one single until March of the new year. Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was also the year-end single of 1993 in the US.
[39] Similarly, in the UK, Houston's version was ranked the number one single of 1992, and then made the countdown again in 1993 where it was ranked number nine, marking the first time any artist or group had the same single ranked in the top 10 of the year-end review two years in a row.
[40] In Australia, it was the number 17 single of 1992 and the number two song of 1993.
[41][42]
Houston's single was also an international success, peaking at number one of the singles charts in almost all countries, including the
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, where it spent 13 weeks at the top. The single ruled the summit position for ten weeks in Australia,
[43] five weeks in Austria,
[44] seven weeks for Belgium,
[45] eight weeks in France,
[46] six weeks in Germany,
[47] eight weeks in Ireland,
[48] two weeks in Italy,
[49] six weeks in Netherlands,
[50] 11 weeks in New Zealand,
[51] nine weeks in Norway,
[52] one week in Spain, six weeks in Sweden,
[53] eight weeks in Switzerland,
[54] and ten weeks in the United Kingdom.
[55] Houston's 10-week reign in the UK set the record for the longest run at the top by a solo female artist in the history of the British singles chart.
[56][57][58] It is the only single to have topped the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australian singles charts for at least ten weeks.
[34][43][55]
Only a few hours after Houston's death on February 11, 2012, "I Will Always Love You" topped the US
iTunes charts. Also, in the week following her death, the single returned to the
Billboard Hot 100 after almost 20 years, debuting at number 7, and becoming a posthumous top-ten single for Houston, the first one since 2001. The song eventually peaked at No. 3, two spots shy of becoming the first song to return to the No. 1 position after falling off the chart since "
The Twist" by
Chubby Checker.
[59] It debuted on the
Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart at number 3 on the chart dated February 25, 2012, with over 195,000 copies downloaded.
[60] In the United Kingdom, the song charted at number 10 the week of Houston's death.
[61]
Commercial performance[edit]
Houston's single sold approximately 400,000 copies in its second week at the top of the charts, making it the best-selling song in a single week surpassing
Bryan Adams' "
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You". It broke its own record in the following three weeks, peaking at 632,000 copies in the week ending December 27, 1992. The January 9, 1993 issue of
Billboard reported it had broken its own record for most copies sold in a single week for any song in the Nielsen SoundsScan era. This record was broken by
Elton John's "
Candle in the Wind 1997/
Something About the Way You Look Tonight", which sold 3.4 million in the final week of September 1997.
[62] "I Will Always Love You" was certified four times Platinum in the US for shipments of over 4 million copies by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 12, 1993, making Houston the first female artist with a single to reach that level in RIAA history.
[63][64] According to
Nielsen SoundScan, as of 2009, the single had sold 4,591,000 copies, and had become the second best-selling physical single in US alone, only behind Elton John's single in 1997.
[65]
In the United Kingdom, the single sold over 1,550,000 copies, becoming the tenth best-selling single of the 1990s, and was certified two times Platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 1, 1993.
[66][67][68] It was certified Platinum for shipments of over 500,000 copies by the
Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) in Germany.
[69] In Japan, "I Will Always Love You" sold over 810,000 copies, staying for 27 weeks on the chart, and became the best-selling single by a foreign female artist at the time, despite not topping the charts.
[70][71]
Critical reception[edit]
Houston transforms a plaintive country ballad into a towering pop-gospel assertion of lasting devotion to a departing lover. Her voice breaking and tensing, she treats the song as a series of emotional bursts in a steady climb toward a final full-out declamation. Along the way, her virtuosic gospel embellishments enhance the emotion and never seem merely ornamental.
[72]
Writing for
USA Today on November 17, 1992, James T. Jones IV called it a "tour-de-force", and added "[Houston] gives a 3
1⁄2-star [out of four] performance. Where Dolly Parton's original 'I Will Always Love You' was plaintive and tear- stained, Houston's is gospel-infused and dramatic."
[73] Chris Willman of the
Los Angeles Times stated: "Houston has the goods to deliver on the tune's haunting beauty and resists overpowering it – until the finale, when the key change and stratospheric notes drain all the heart-rending sadness out of the song and make it sound like just another anthem of survival."
[74] Amy Linden of
Entertainment Weekly wrote Houston's version "is artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip for the
MOR songbird."
[75] Stewart Mason of
AllMusic found Houston's cover "repulsively overwrought... so boomingly bombastic and glutinous with self-approbation that the tenderness of Dolly Parton's song is lost in the mire".
[76]
Accolades[edit]
"I Will Always Love You" won the
1994 Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, her third award for this category after earlier awards in 1986 and 1988. During the Grammy Award telecast, the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female was presented to Houston by composer Dolly Parton and David Foster. The single topped the 1993
Billboard Hot 100 and
Hot R&B Singles year-end charts simultaneously, becoming the first single by a female artist and the second overall to achieve that feat behind
Prince's "
When Doves Cry" in 1984. In addition, it received Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single awards at
the 21st American Music Awards, which was the first record by a solo female artist to win both categories, and the third overall in AMA history behind "
Endless Love" by
Lionel Richie &
Diana Ross in 1982 and "
Beat It" by
Michael Jackson in 1984. "I Will Always Love You" won two Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1993 for International Song of the Year, and a 1994 International Song of the Year Special Award for Japanese sales of over one million units.
[77]
In 2015, "I Will Always Love You" was named the #1 Song of the Rock Era in the book
The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015.
[78]
Music video[edit]
The single's music video, is credited to
Alan Smithee (
Nick Brandt removed his name due to the way
Clive Davis re-edited the video), and produced by Rob Newman. It begins with the performance of the song Houston gives at the end of
The Bodyguard. The video then cuts to Houston in a dark blue suit sitting in an empty theater with the spotlight shining on her, singing of her love. The video is inter-cut with scenes from
The Bodyguard and gives the viewer the experience of reliving the moments with the singer. At the time of the video's shooting Houston was pregnant with her daughter Bobbi Kristina so is shown only sitting in the theater scenes.
[90]
Formats and track listings[edit]
|
- "I Will Always Love You" ― 4:31
- "Jesus Loves Me" ― 5:11
- "Do You Hear What I Hear?" ― 3:31
Maxi-CD singles (1999 Remixes)
- "I Will Always Love You" (Hex Hector Radio Edit) ― 4:50
- "I Will Always Love You" (Hex Hector 12" Club Mix) ― 9:51
- "I Will Always Love You" (Hex Hector Anthem Dub Mix) – 5:44
|
Credits and personnel[edit]
|
Australian Singles Chart[41] | 17 |
Canadian Adult Contemporary Tracks[137] | 97 |
Dutch Top 40[138] | 61 |
Italian Singles Chart[139] | 7 |
UK Singles Chart[40] | 1 |
Year-end chart (1993) | Position |
Australian Singles Chart[42] | 2 |
Austrian Singles Chart[140] | 8 |
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[141] | 16 |
Canadian Singles Chart[142] | 1 |
Canadian Adult Contemporary Singles[143] | 7 |
Dutch Top 40[144] | 13 |
Dutch Single Top 100[145] | 5 |
Finnish Singles Chart[146] | 5 |
Japanese Singles Chart[147] | 31 |
New Zealand Singles Chart[148] | 2 |
Swiss Singles Chart[149] | 7 |
UK Singles Chart[40] | 9 |
US Billboard Hot 100[150] | 1 |
US Adult Contemporary[151] | 18 |
US Hot Pop Singles[152] | 1 |
US Hot R&B Singles[153] | 1 |
Year-end chart (2012) | Position |
Spanish Singles Chart[154] | 49 |
All-time chart (2015) | Rank |
US Billboard Hot 100[157] | 51 |
|
Billboard Magazine Hot 100 Anniversary Charts[edit]
Year | Title | Category | Position | Source |
1998 | Billboard 40 Years of the Top 40 | The Top 10 Remakes | No. 2 | [158] |
The Top 10 "Love" Songs | No. 2 | [158] |
Billboard The Hot 100 of the Hot 100: Top Songs of Four Decades | No. 6 | [159] |
The Top 10 Soundtrack Songs | No. 1 | [160] |
Song with the Most Weeks at No. 1 (14 weeks) | No. 2 | [160] |
2008 | Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary | The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs | No. 68 | [161] |
The All-Time Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | No. 27 | [162] |
Hot 100 Song of the Year – 1993 | No. 1 | [163] |
2013 | Billboard Hot 100 55th Anniversary | The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs | No. 49 | [164] |
The All-Time Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | No. 27 | [165] |
Hot 100 Song of the Year – 1993 | No. 1 | [166] |
Certifications[edit]
Tributes[edit]
Since Houston's death in 2012, many other artists have performed tributes to the late singer's version of the song.
Beyoncé[edit]
Later, in 2013, during her
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, Beyoncé also sang the opening lines of "I Will Always Love You" prior to the performance of "Halo" as the final song of the tour.
[187]
Jennifer Hudson[edit]
Jennifer Hudson performed the song in front of Houston in 2010. On February 12, 2012, Hudson performed the song as a tribute during the
54th Grammy Awards, the day after Houston's death, alongside images of musicians who had died in 2011 and 2012, including
Amy Winehouse and
Etta James. The song was played at Houston's funeral as her casket was brought out of the church. Parton complimented Hudson on her performance, saying,
I was brought to tears again last night, as I'm sure many were, when Jennifer Hudson sang "I Will Always Love You" on the Grammys in memory of Whitney. Like everybody else, I am still in shock. But I know that Whitney will live forever in all the great music that she left behind. I will always have a very special piece of her in the song we shared together and had the good fortune to share with the world. Rest in peace, Whitney. Again, we will always love you.
[188][189]
Jessica Sanchez[edit]
On March 7, 2012, on the eleventh season of American Idol, during the Top 13 week,
Jessica Sanchez performed a rendition of the song. She received a standing ovation for her performance. She performed the song again on the season finale, where she would finish as the eventual runner-up.
Edyta Górniak[edit]
During the festival TOP trends in 2012,
Edyta Górniak performed "I Will Always Love You" as a tribute to Whitney Houston on May 26.
Will Ferrell[edit]
At the 2017 Commencement of the University of Southern California, Will Ferrell sang "I Will Always Love You" to the graduating class. See Washington Post commentary:
[190]
Other versions[edit]
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