Outside of his songwriting, country music icon Dolly Lee Parton is best known for his sweetness and positivity. The 74-year-old living legend is a well-known philanthropist who always donates for good causes. It’s hard to imagine Parton ever being a disrespectful word to anyone.
But in Parton’s recently published new memoir, Dolly Lee Parton, Songteller: My Life in Song (Which he wrote with Ron K. Orman), he explains that his relationship with his longtime lyricist partner, Porter Wagner, was not always sweet and light. In fact, Parton and Wagner often nodded when they were writing together – especially when it comes to business.
Parton and Wagner had a business relationship rollercoaster ride
Parton and Wagner began working together in 1967, when she began arriving Porter Wagner show Regularly. Soon, they started writing together, and the songwriting duo released several duet albums.
In her new memoir, Parton explains that although she was innovative in the business, she actually took the lead in many of the songs’ efforts. Wagner was not known as a songwriter when he started working as a duo.
“I kind of helped him get into it,” Parton explains, adding that she helped him with plenty of songs that didn’t get him official credit.
But, while Wagner and Parton had professional chemistry, their relationship was always full.
“Sometimes it was easy, sometimes not,” Parton writes. Song plate. “We were both very defiant.” He explains that he will never be able to tell whether they were “very similar” or “very different.”
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The two began to have more and more headaches over the years
About his business relationship with Wagner, Parton writes in his memoirs, “Sometimes it was fun when we wrote together and sometimes it was based on whether or not he was fighting.” While she will always be grateful to him and get a lot of “pleasure” in his work together, there have been many “ups and downs” over the years.
The last song they co-wrote together in 1974 was “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me” – their only duet era that ranked him No. 1, ironically – and by that time, they had fought more times than him.
Perhaps the problem was that their collaborative relationship made its way smoothly. Parton initially thought of writing with Wagner for five years, but by then he had grown to seven instead.
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Parton said Wagner could be ‘aggressive’
According to Parton, Wagner was volatile at the time. She suspects that his repressive behavior towards her is somewhat related to his gender – but he will not back down.
Parton writes, “She got very angry and erupted when she erupted.” Dolly Lee Parton, Songteller. “But when he was in good spirits, he was in joy.”
He adds that he sometimes felt intimidated when Wagner vented his anger.
“Porter was very aggressive in his nature, and he kind of tried to intimidate me,” the 74-year-old said. “I think many times, he did.”
Still, Parton explains, she didn’t want to be pushed around “just because she’s a girl”. And at home with a father and six brothers, she was “accustomed to men.”
“I don’t fold like some women do, that’s why I’ll fight back,” Parton said.
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‘I always love’ is written as a tribute to the country’s Ikea to end his business relationship with Wagner
Over time, Wagner wanted to gain more control over Parton’s musical career. She alleges in her new memoir that their professional jealousy began to affect their working relationships.
In the end, Parton decided that it was finally time for him to spread his wings and venture out on his own for a full solo career.
Naturally, the country singer endorsed her partnership with Wagner in the best way she knew how: with a song. She wrote the devastating No. 1 hit in 1974, “I Will Always Love You” – now in Grammy Hall of Fame fame – about trying to free herself from control of Wagner’s efforts.
Every song in that song, Parton explains, “came straight down [her] Heart
Wagner writes, “He was trying to control something that could be controlled, and it made him miserable and miserable.”
Wagner composed the song himself – Parton also said it was “the best song she’s ever written” – and the duo continued to work together from time to time until they parted ways for Sara in 1975.
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