Dolly Parton wrote one of the most famous goodbye songs ever recorded.
So when the country legend thought about the music that might one day accompany her own funeral, there seemed to be an obvious choice: “I Will Always Love You.”
But Dolly wanted something very different.
More than a decade before her death, she revealed that the song she personally wanted sung at her funeral was an old country-gospel hymn called “If We Never Meet Again.”
And there was a deeply personal reason behind her choice.
It was her daddy’s favorite song. (ew.com)
Dolly Parton through the years
Dolly had discussed death with the same mixture of faith, humor and practicality that characterized so much of her life.
In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she was asked to describe the soundtrack of her life, including what she would want played at her eventual funeral.
She knew many people would immediately think of “I Will Always Love You.”
After all, Dolly wrote the song in 1973, and Whitney Houston’s monumental 1992 recording turned it into one of the best-known ballads in popular music.
But Dolly’s own choice went much further back.
It went back to her childhood, her church and her father.
The song Dolly personally chose: “If We Never Meet Again”
The song was “If We Never Meet Again,” a country-gospel hymn written by Albert E. Brumley.
Dolly explained that the hymn was her father Robert Lee Parton’s favorite. Her family had sung it at his funeral, and she wanted it sung at hers as well. (ew.com)
And here is the actual song Dolly was talking about.
🎵 LISTEN: “If We Never Meet Again”
Elvis Presley recorded the hymn for his 1960 gospel album His Hand in Mine. His official artist channel carries the recording today. (elvisthemusic.com)
Elvis Presley — If We Never Meet Again
Listen to “If We Never Meet Again” on Elvis Presley’s official site
The hymn is about separation in this life and the Christian hope that loved ones will eventually meet again in heaven.
That message explains why Dolly’s choice was so personal.
She wasn’t selecting a Dolly Parton hit.
She was choosing the song that reminded her of her father.
Dolly with the family that shaped her
Dolly was one of 12 children born to Robert Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens Parton.
The family had little money while Dolly was growing up in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, but music and religion were deeply woven into their lives.
Her grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, and Dolly began singing in church as a child.
Her father, whom Dolly affectionately called “Daddy,” wasn’t a celebrity.
He was a farmer and construction worker who worked tirelessly to support his enormous family.
Years later, when Dolly had become one of the most recognizable women in America, those roots still mattered enormously to her.
And that is precisely where her funeral song came from.
She had already heard the song at her father’s funeral
Robert Lee Parton died in 2000.
When his family gathered to say goodbye, “If We Never Meet Again” was sung at his funeral.
Fourteen years later, Dolly recalled that moment while discussing her own eventual death.
She said she wanted the same song.
The choice becomes even more poignant when you understand the message behind the hymn.
It imagines loved ones reaching the end of life’s journey and being separated by death, while holding onto the belief that they’ll meet again.
Dolly summarized that message herself when explaining her choice in 2014. (ew.com)
She wasn’t thinking about charts or awards.
She was thinking about reunion.
Johnny Cash recorded another beautiful version
Fans of classic country may also recognize Johnny Cash’s recording.
Cash recorded “If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven” for his 1962 gospel album Hymns from the Heart. His official website still features the recording and identifies Albert E. Brumley as the songwriter. (johnnycash.com)
Listen to Johnny Cash’s “If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven”
For older country fans, either version immediately evokes the gospel tradition Dolly grew up hearing.
And after losing several of the people closest to her, its message must have become increasingly personal.
Then Dolly lost Carl Dean
Carl Dean had been beside Dolly for almost her entire adult life.
They met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville in 1964, when Dolly was only 18.
They married on May 30, 1966.
While Dolly became internationally famous, Carl deliberately remained outside the spotlight.
Their marriage lasted 58 years, until Carl died in March 2025.
Rare photographs of them together consequently became particularly precious to fans.
Rare photos of Dolly and Carl through their marriage
After Carl’s death, Dolly released the deeply personal song “If You Hadn’t Been There” in his memory.
But her funeral choice had been made long before she lost him.
That makes the gospel hymn’s central idea even more moving in hindsight.
By the final years of her life, Dolly had lost both the father whose favorite song inspired her choice and the husband with whom she’d spent nearly six decades.
The idea of eventually meeting loved ones again wasn’t merely an abstract lyric.
It was connected to people she had loved.
Why she didn’t choose “I Will Always Love You”
There was another emotional reason Dolly associated her most famous ballad with funerals.
Whitney Houston’s extraordinary recording of “I Will Always Love You” was played at Houston’s funeral in 2012.
Dolly later remembered hearing her own composition as Houston’s casket was carried out.
That was the moment the reality of Whitney’s death truly hit her.
Dolly predicted that people would probably play the song when she herself died someday.
But when asked what she wanted, she chose “If We Never Meet Again.” (ew.com)
It’s an extraordinary contrast.
One song was written by Dolly Parton and became known around the planet.
The other came from the gospel tradition of her childhood.
She chose the second one.
Dolly’s funeral was exactly as private as she wanted
Dolly died on August 25, 2026, at age 80, following a brief battle with cancer.
Three days later, on August 28, her family gathered for a private ceremony at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, where she was laid to rest beside Carl. Recent reporting says the service followed her wish for an intimate family farewell and included the song she had selected years earlier. (theguardian.com)
There was no enormous televised celebrity funeral.
Instead, Dolly’s final farewell was small and centered on family — much closer to her Tennessee roots than to the extravagant public image the world knew.
One more time: hear the song Dolly chose for her goodbye
This is the hymn Dolly connected to her father and said she wanted at her own funeral:
Elvis Presley — If We Never Meet Again
The recording comes from Elvis Presley’s gospel catalog and dates to 1960. (youtube.com)
And that choice says something remarkable about Dolly.
She could have chosen:
“Jolene.”
“9 to 5.”
“Coat of Many Colors.”
“Here You Come Again.”
Or the song almost everyone expected:
“I Will Always Love You.”
Instead, she chose “If We Never Meet Again.”
From a Tennessee girl to a worldwide icon
Dolly’s career eventually became almost unimaginably large.
She wrote thousands of songs, starred in movies, built Dollywood and created the Imagination Library, which distributed hundreds of millions of books to children.
But when she imagined the music accompanying her final goodbye, none of those achievements determined her choice.
She went back to Daddy.
Back to church.
Back to the mountains.
Back to the hymn her family had sung when they buried Robert Lee Parton.
And ultimately, Dolly got the simple farewell she had envisioned. (theguardian.com)
The world knew her as Dolly Parton, the rhinestone-covered country superstar.
But her funeral song belonged to the little Tennessee girl underneath all of it.
“If We Never Meet Again.”
For more on Dolly’s personal life, check out how Dolly Parton Never Had Children – But Her Sister Freida Revealed She Was Her “Dolly Momma” From Age 13. And for a different kind of transformation, you might enjoy seeing how Richard Gere’s Son Homer Has Grown Up Before Our Eyes – See His Transformation From Baby to 26-Year-Old Actor or Richard Gere’s Son Is 26 and Stepping Into the Spotlight – See Homer Gere’s Remarkable Transformation in Photos.
