The 2 Rock Songs Dolly Parton Was Told to Stay Away From
Dolly Parton’s upcoming album, Rockstar, features an exciting lineup of classic rock songs with an all-star cast. Many of these songs are iconic tracks that are considered untouchable. Artists can record their own version of them, but they will most likely pale in comparison to the original. Parton is a wonderful singer who can successfully put her own spin on other songs, but there were two songs people told her to stay away from.
Dolly Parton was urged to steer clear of ‘Free Bird’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven’
Rockstar is Dolly Parton’s first rock album and she is not pulling any punches. The album consists of 30 songs, mostly covers with a few Parton originals. A few of these tracks include “Let It Be,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Purple Rain,” “We Are the Champions,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.
Two songs featured on the album are Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and “Stairway to Heaven”. Both are demanding rock ballads as they are lengthy tracks that feature long, advanced solos and powerful vocals. In an interview with Hits Daily Double, Parton said people told her to stay away from these two songs, but she decided to do them anyway. Fortunately, “Free Bird” worked out as Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant’s vocals are featured in Parton’s version.
“That song really has a history to it. We lost a couple of the guys right after I recorded it,” Parton shared. “Then Ronnie Van Zant’s widow allowed us to use his voice on our record. That’s not going to be on the Lynyrd Skynyrd record, only the version we did. She allowed that, and I was so happy we got to use his real voice. They just dropped it in the way they manipulate those things now. It made it so special.”
“I get chills every time I hear it. I’d already sung my version, and I didn’t know his voice enough, but then our phrasing turned out to be almost just exact when we were singing on the song!” she continued. “That’s such a classic. And it just goes on forever; lord, it’s a 10-minute song! At least five or six minutes is guitar. I remember getting so lost in the music, just singing wherever I felt it.”
Parton wanted to redo ‘Stairway to Heaven’ for her husband
Dolly Parton covers “Stairway to Heaven” on her upcoming rock album with Lizzo. However, this is Parton’s second attempt at the iconic Led Zeppelin track after covering it in 2002 for her album Halos & Horns. Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, is a rock n’ roll fanatic but wasn’t too keen on his wife’s bluegrass interpretation of “Stairway to Heaven”.
In an interview with Absolute Radio, Parton said her husband had some harsh words toward her first version of “Stairway to Heaven”, but loved her new version because it stayed closer to the original.
“He did not like it when I did a version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ some years back as a bluegrass kind of thing, and he didn’t think I should’ve done it,” Parton explained. “He said, ‘Are you sure that’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Stairwell to Hell?’’ And I thought, ‘Well, maybe since you put it like that.’ But he did love my version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ because I stayed so true to it on this rock album.”
