Dolly Parton wants Beyonce to cover her all-time hit, Jolene

Los Angeles, Dec. 7 (IANS): Singer Dolly Parton says she would love Beyonce to do a cover of her iconic track Jolene.

“‘Jolene’ has been recorded more than any other song that I have ever written. It has been recorded worldwide over 400 times in lots of different languages by lots of different bands. The White Stripes did a wonderful job of it, and many other people. But nobody’s ever had a really big hit record on it,” Parton told Big Issue magazine, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I’ve always hoped somebody might do someday, someone like Beyonce,” she added.

Parton says her proudest moment was the reaction to Whitney Houston’s song, I will always love you.

“I had a number one with ‘I Will Always Love You’ twice, once in the Seventies then I did it in the movie ‘The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas’ and had another number one in the eighties. And then Whitney did it and it was considered one of the greatest love songs of all time. Still to this day I take a lot of pride in that,” she said.

When she’s writing a new song, Parton looks at the process as if she’s “starring” in a film.

“When I write a song, I’m vulnerable at those moments. I leave my heart out on my sleeve. I’ve always said I have to leave my heart open in order to receive those kind of songs. I have to feel everything to be a real songwriter,” said Parton.

She added: “And yes, a lot of my songs are kind of melancholy. Some of them are sad, and some of them are pitiful. And I mean for them to be pitiful, those really sad songs like ‘Little Sparrow’ or ‘Jeannie’s Afraid of the Dark’. I have a big imagination and I become whoever I’m writing about. It’s like starring in a movie, I am that character in that song.”