Looking Back on 'IWALY'

[rick]

The story of ‘I Will Always Love You’, 50 years on

[MokyWI]

Hard to read Linda’s version reduced to a minor side note in this article, especially when Linda’s version was brought to Whitney by Costner. It could have been a country single for Linda if released as one and I have no doubt it would have done well in 1975 on country radio

I never cared for Houston’s version. Way over the top for my ears. I was surprised to learn it was LINDA’S version that Costner thought Whitney could work from. Now I can hear the similarities in arrangements but I still can’t listen to Houston’s version all the way through. When she gets to the title of the song my ears can’t take it. Having said that, Whitney is who comes to most minds when the song is mentioned.

[erik]

Quote by MokiWI:

Hard to read Linda’s version reduced to a minor side note in this article, especially when Linda’s version was brought to Whitney by Costner. It could have been a country single for Linda if released as one and I have no doubt it would have done well in 1975 on country radio

Yes, it's very hard to take it when you see Linda's version just reduced to chopped liver in this article, just because Whitney's version was the "much bigger" song. Truth be told, however, I don't think bigger is always necessarily better, at least not with this song.

Might Linda's version have become a country hit on its own? Yes, but it wouldn't have been only a country hit; it would have been a sizable pop crossover hit too. Apart from Dan Dugmore's steel guitar, "I Will Always Love You" is also very much a pop/rock/R&B ballad, very much of a piece of what Linda was known for (unbelievably concise genre-mixing), and, for comparison, probably should be heard back-to-back with the Beatles' last #1 hit "The Long And Winding Road" (IMHO).

And the old story about Elvis wanting to record it, but being sabotaged by the Colonel's fifty-percent-or-nothing demands on the publishing rights, a demand that broke Dolly's heart, is a legendary one. Dolly clearly didn't lose anyway. Elvis may not have recorded it, but the female singer who is closest to him in terms of vocal dexterity, and who had become one of Dolly's best friends by 1975, did, and we should not let the world forget that fact.

[RobGNYC]

In this whole saga, my favorite thing to remember is Dolly’s simple, handwritten “Thank you Linda” on the gatefold of the “Prisoner“ album. I barely knew who Dolly was in 1975 but that made me pay attention.

[eddiejinnj]

You all are right in that the author should have included the fact that Costner brought it to her and suggested it for soundtrack material. I think it would have shown how influential she was to Costner and made it more real and the personal story of the song richer.

eddiejinfl

[Partridge]

The main purpose of this article was not to inform, but to present the information in the most verbose way as possible, in order to make the article longer with more room for advertisements. So you would think they would have had more explanation about Linda's version. The placement of the intrusions made it hard to read.

But thank you rick for posting it.

[sliderocker]

Mar 15, 2024 8:38:02 GMT -5 erik said:

Yes, it's very hard to take it when you see Linda's version just reduced to chopped liver in this article, just because Whitney's version was the "much bigger" song. Truth be told, however, I don't think bigger is always necessarily better, at least not with this song.

Whitney's version was also so over the top in terms of octaves. I couldn't listen to the song at all without thinking of the interruptions the radio stations always did whenever there was severe weather in the area, or they were required to do their weekly test to alert listeners to an emergency situation. Whitney's version was so jarring and I felt bad for her because she wasn't a bad singer. Her producer should've encouraged her to approach the song like Dolly and Linda had done with their versions, which was very low key. However, I don't suppose Dolly minded the millions she made from Whitney's version.

Might Linda's version have become a country hit on its own? Yes, but it wouldn't have been only a country hit; it would have been a sizable pop crossover hit too. Apart from Dan Dugmore's steel guitar, "I Will Always Love You" is also very much a pop/rock/R&B ballad, very much of a piece of what Linda was known for (unbelievably concise genre-mixing), and, for comparison, probably should be heard back-to-back with the Beatles' last #1 hit "The Long And Winding Road" (IMHO).

I'm surprised it never occurred to Linda and Peter to record the songs she did in both a pop-rock vein and country vein, and release both as separate albums marketed to separate audiences. Which is what Shania Twain did with one of her albums. It was a huge risk but it paid off as I recall. There was also a foreign version of the same album and there were Shania fans who bought all three versions. Linda was so popular on two different genres she probably could've gotten away with it long before Shania did.

And the old story about Elvis wanting to record it, but being sabotaged by the Colonel's fifty-percent-or-nothing demands on the publishing rights, a demand that broke Dolly's heart, is a legendary one. Dolly clearly didn't lose anyway. Elvis may not have recorded it, but the female singer who is closest to him in terms of vocal dexterity, and who had become one of Dolly's best friends by 1975, did, and we should not let the world forget that fact.

To this day, I don't think Elvis wanted to record IWALY; I think Dolly has her song titles confused. Or she is so enamored of IWALY that she thinks Elvis wanted to record it. Elvis did want to record a song of Dolly's, Coat of Many Colors, (source: Marty Lacker, one of Elvis's friends on one of the old Elvis newsgroups) which Elvis related to, but if it was recorded, Col. Parker sat on the song because he couldn't get Dolly to agree to giving Elvis 25% of the music publishing.

Dolly wrote and recorded IWALY after Elvis had come down on Parker and told him to stop harassing the songwriters and music publishers for part of the music publishing. At least in the recording studio. That's what kept Elvis out of the recording studio and wanting to do anything but record enough songs for three albums plus some miscellaneous B-sides.

It's entirely possible Dolly did submit IWALY to Elvis, but she would had to have run the song through Col. Parker before it was sent on to Elvis. Parker would've pressed for 25% of the music publishing in exchange for passing the song on to Elvis. If Elvis wanted to record the song, he was going to record the song, music publishing be damned. This is what makes me think Elvis never heard the song. There were no recording sessions from Elvis in 1974, only one session in 1975 when he recorded eleven songs and his final session in 1976, when he recorded sixteen songs. He had another session scheduled in 1977 when he was supposed to have recorded an additional eight songs that would've been added to the Moody Blue album.However, heshined on showing up at the recording studio in Nashville for several days, and finally showed up but reportedly did no work on the eight songs. I Will Always Love You wasn't one of the eight songs.

I think Dolly went through the so called proper channels and that's where her song was lost. She wouldn't give up 25% of the music publishing in exchange for Elvis recording the song, and Col. Greed saw to it that Elvis never heard the song. If she truly wanted Elvis to record the song, giving Elvis 25% of the publishing would have been a fair trade. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice gave Elvis the music publishing on their song It's Easy for You, which they specifically wrote for Elvis. They could've run the publishing through one of the US music publishing companies that published and administered the rights to their songs, but they agreed to Elvis's publishing company having the rights to the song, and Elvis recorded and released the song. Last song on the Moody Blue album, and a song that sent chills down the backs of those who listened to the song in 1977.

[eddiejinnj]

I think our Jersey girl, Whitney, showed her musical range in this song. I think she had too many high note embellishments and the last note where she goes back up at the very end, I think almost ruins it for me. The musical arrangement is too over the top also especially the intro to the last chorus. It takes a very personal song and bombasts it. Within the context of the movie, maybe, it makes more sense but as a non-visual personal love song that is not accomplished, imo, of course. I always thought that if there was a Linda/Barbra sing off that Linda should use IWALY as her song to blow Babs out of the park, lol!!!

eddiejinfl

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker:

I'm surprised it never occurred to Linda and Peter to record the songs she did in both a pop-rock vein and country vein, and release both as separate albums marketed to separate audiences. Which is what Shania Twain did with one of her albums. It was a huge risk but it paid off as I recall. There was also a foreign version of the same album and there were Shania fans who bought all three versions. Linda was so popular on two different genres she probably could've gotten away with it long before Shania did.

Honestly, I just couldn't see Linda wanting to record songs in two different styles for two different audiences. What might seem commercially huge for Shania would almost certainly look like just a ploy for money when it came to Linda. And to judge by the massive success she had between 1973 and 1983, just doing the songs she wanted, the way she wanted, and letting the chips fall where they may, her way worked for her. I don't know of any female singer in any genre, not Shania, not even Taylor Swift, who could have mass success on AM Top 40 radio, FM album-rock radio, and country radio, and all at the same time, and all done by Linda on her terms with Peter Asher's enthusiastic assistance.