Dolly Parton opens up about Porter Wagoner trying to scare her – ‘I didn’t bend like some women’



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Outside of her writing, country music icon Dolly Parton is best known for her sweetness and positivity. The 74-year-old living legend is a renowned philanthropist who often donates to good causes. It’s hard to imagine Parton ever having a mean word for anyone.

But in the new memoir recently published by Parton, Dolly Parton, singer: My life in words (which she wrote with Ron K. Oermann), she explains that her relationship with her longtime partner, Porter Wagoner, has certainly not always been smooth and light. In fact, Parton and Wagoner often hit their heads when writing together – especially when it came to business matters.

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner | Michael Mauney / The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images / Getty Images

Parton and Wagoner have been on a roller coaster ride of a professional relationship

Parton and Wagoner began working together in 1967, when she began appearing on The Porter Wagoner Show regularly. Soon they began to write together and the pair of writers released several duet albums.

In her new memoir, Parton explains that she actually took the lead in many of the duo’s songwriting efforts, despite being more recent in the business. Wagoner was not well known as a songwriter when they started working in pairs.

“I kind of helped her get into that area,” Parton explains, adding that she helped him with a lot of songs that she didn’t get official credit for.

But, while Wagoner and Parton had professional chemistry, their relationship was often strained.

“Sometimes it was easy, sometimes not,” writes Parton in Edge plate. “We were both very sharp.” She explains that she was never able to determine if they were “too similar” or “too different” to get along.

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner | Frank Mullen / WireImage

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The duo started bumping into each other more and more over the years

Of her professional relationship with Wagoner, Parton writes in her memoir, “When we wrote together it was sometimes fun and sometimes it depended on whether we were fighting or not.” While she will always be grateful to him and found “a lot of joy” in working together, there have also been a lot of “ups and downs” over the years.

The last song they wrote together was “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me,” in 1974 – their only duo to reach number 1, ironically – and by then they were fighting more often than they were. did not get along.

Perhaps the problem was that their collaborative relationship had just run its course. Parton had originally planned to write with Wagoner for five years, but by that time there had been around seven.

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton | Tony R. Phipps / WireImage

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Parton said Wagoner could be ‘aggressive’

Wagoner sometimes had a volatile temper, according to Parton. She suspected that his domineering demeanor towards her was somewhat related to her gender – but she wasn’t about to back down.

“He had a bad temper, and when it exploded, it flared up,” Parton writes in Dolly Parton, singer. “But when he was in a good mood, it was a joy.”

She adds that Wagoner sometimes even scared her when her temper flared up.

“Porter was very aggressive in his temper, and he kind of tried to scare me,” reveals the 74-year-old. “I think a lot of times he did.

Yet, Parton explains, she didn’t want to be rushed “just because she was a girl.” And with a father and six brothers at home, she was “used to men.”

“I didn’t bend like some women, that’s why I was fighting,” Parton says.

Dolly parton
Dolly Parton | Kevin Winter / Getty Images

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The country icon wrote ‘I will always love you’ as a tribute to the end of her professional relationship with Wagoner

Over time, Wagoner wanted to have more control over Parton’s musical career. She alleges in her new memoirs that her professional jealousy began to affect their working relationship.

Finally, Parton decided it was finally time to spread her wings and venture out on her own for a full-fledged solo career.

Understandably, the country singer gave up her partnership with Wagoner in the best way she knew: with a song. She wrote the 1974 No. 1 hit “I Will Always Love You” – now in the Grammy Hall of Fame – on trying to break free from the control of Wagoner’s attempts.

Each lyric in this song, Parton explains, “comes straight from the bottom of [her] heart.”

“He was trying to control something that is not controllable,” she writes of Wagoner, “and that made him miserable and me miserable.

Wagoner himself produced the song – even telling Parton it was the “best song she ever wrote” – and the duo continued to work together from time to time until they finally split up in 1975. .



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