Jeff Tweedy shares his hot take on Dolly Parton's song 'I Will Always Love You' on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' is widely cherished, but Jeff Tweedy, the Wilco musician, revealed his disapproval of the song during an interview on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'.
Acknowledging that his opinion puts him in the minority among the 77-year-old country icon's fans, Tweedy shared his perspective on the renowned track while promoting his book, which came out in November 2023.
Stephen Colbert jokingly says Jeff Tweedy 'hates' Dolly Parton
'I Will Always Love You', originally written and recorded by Parton in 1974, became a talking point on 'The Late Show' as Colbert delved into it during a discussion about Tweedy's new book, 'World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music'.
The musician candidly remarked, "The book would've sounded really silly if I didn’t take ownership of some things that aren’t for me, and one of them is 'I Will Always Love You'," eliciting gasps from the live studio audience of the talk show.
This led Colbert to quip, "You hate Dolly Parton."
"No, I love Dolly Parton," clarified Tweedy, adding, "All I know is that she wrote 'Jolene' and 'I Will Always Love You' on the same day, and I think she should've stopped after 'Jolene'."
Acknowledging that his perspective may be unconventional, the Grammy winner explained that the elongated "I" in the song's chorus bothers him.
Jeff Tweedy says Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' is 'dead' to him
In the context of Tweedy's discussion, he hinted at jealousy as the underlying reason for his dislike of 'I Will Always Love You'.
The song, famously performed by Whitney Houston and earning her two Grammy Awards in 1994, including Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, has enjoyed substantial commercial success, with over 10 million units sold in the US to date.
"It's obviously me because I think that people have a natural kind of inclination to reject things that they can't do," admitted Tweedy, adding, "And I can't hold a note for very long, so that song is dead to me."
In other parts of Tweedy's new book, as highlighted by Colbert in the interview, he identifies several widely appreciated songs that he doesn't particularly like. These include Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow', Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now', and the Allman Brothers Band's 'Ramblin' Man'.
During his conversation with Colbert, Tweedy expressed bravery for sharing his opinions on the songs, to which he responded humorously, stating, "I know. This has been a disaster."
As for the speculation of 'I Will Always Love You' and 'Jolene' being written on the same day, Parton addressed the topic on the Clubhouse App in 2022. She clarified that while they may not have been written on the exact same day, they were found on the same cassette tape.
Parton mentioned that the songs ended up on the same album and were composed within a very short span of time, possibly just a few days apart.
