"I Will Always Love You" Linda Ronstadt

There have been many versions of "I Will Always Love You," including several by its writer, Dolly Parton, and the best known by the late Whitney Houston, but none equal the beauty, emotion, and power expressed by Linda Ronstadt in her version from her 1975 LP, Prisoner in Disguise on Asylum/Elektra Records, available on CD.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Linda
• Ronstadt
• Country-Rock
• 1970s

[karrtt1234]

@stevenjhendriks The song was written for Porter Wagner.. when Dolly was leaving his show and their partnership to presue a solo career. Which is why you might feel Linda's singing is restrained, but her bluesy delivery and sutlety with the lyric are appropriate, since the true meaning behind the song is about leaving a friend not a love. The album that it comes from,(Prisoner in Disguise) was an album in which song writers sent the songs to Linda for her to sing.

[Chuck1974]

Like some others who are checking out this vid, I just learned that Whitney Houston was given Linda Ronstadt's version of "I Will Always Love You" to listen to when she was going to record the song for "The Bodyguard." Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Whitney Houston ... honestly, they all bring something unique to this song.

[DejaVuSu]

I agree with you...always LOVED Linda's version. Thank you for this.

[karrtt1234]

@Marchjoy1963 Yes, I do think that she would have spoke with Dolly. In another interesting footnote to this song connection, Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom) sang back up for Linda on the album previous to this one, " Heart Like a Wheel".

[phatcracker2007]

@shannon360ify I know she's a gospel singer, and a damn good one at that. I think Linda sings a more soulful version. If I were banging them and they sang this to me, I'd be more convinced by Linda.

[Marchjoy1963]

@therealjoebloggs Of course I agree with you about the universal interpretation of the song. The album Prisioner in Disguise (which Linda recorded this song for), was a project in which song writers sent song to Linda for her to record. The album cover inside has a picture of all the original music; the lyrics and some the sheet music for each song, spread out on the floor. It was a great concept.. and I do believe that Linda had an understading of what the song meant to Dolly.

[OfficialHannahLopez]

Linda Rondstadt is a great inspiration to me.

[westfaner]

@Taweshep Not soulful... Whitney is hardly what the black community called soulful, the spent year knocking her because they said she made music for white people. If you can't hear Linda's soul in this... I suggest you clean out your ears. And this was the version that Whitney used as a template for hers .

[zedlacredit]

@karrtt1234 Yeah.. it is nice to see someone knows the origin of the song, and about the reason Linda recorded it.

[therealjoebloggs]

@Marchjoy1963 Well, yeah, that was the immediate reason for the song, but it wouldn't have resonated as it did if the lyrics didn't admit of a more universal interpretation. Linda and Whitney didn't have any professional connection to Porter Wagoner, right?