Dolly Parton Once Revealed the Song She Wanted Played at Her Funeral — and the Family Story Behind It

Long before her death at 80, Dolly Parton had already decided which song she wanted to hear at her funeral.

It was not one of the country icon’s own legendary hits.

Instead, Parton chose an old country-gospel hymn with a deeply personal connection to her father, Robert Lee Parton. More than a decade before her death, she told Entertainment Weekly that she wanted “If We Never Meet Again” to be part of her final farewell.

Parton died on August 25, 2026.

The song Parton wanted at her funeral

In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly for a feature titled “Dolly Parton: The Soundtrack of My Life,” Parton was asked about the music she would choose for different moments in her life—including her own funeral.

She immediately acknowledged that one of her biggest songs would almost certainly be played.

“I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die, just like they did with Whitney Houston,” Parton said.

The song had an especially emotional association for Parton because of Houston’s death in 2012.

Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973. Although her own recording was successful, Houston’s 1992 version, recorded for The Bodyguard, became a global phenomenon.

Parton recalled watching Houston’s funeral and hearing the song as her coffin was carried away.

“When they picked her coffin up and started in on that song, I started to cry,” Parton recalled. “That’s when it hit me that she was really gone.”

But despite knowing that “I Will Always Love You” would likely accompany her own farewell, Parton had another song specifically in mind.

Dolly Parton and her dad, Robert Lee Parton.

Dolly Parton Instagram

A hymn with a special connection to her father

The song Parton personally selected was “If We Never Meet Again,” an old country-gospel church song about the hope of meeting loved ones again in heaven.

“There’s a song called ‘If We Never Meet Again,’” Parton told Entertainment Weekly.

She explained that the song was particularly meaningful because it had been her father’s favorite.

“That was my daddy’s favorite,” she said. “We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine.”

The song’s message centers on separation in this life and the hope of reunion in heaven, making it a fitting choice for Parton, whose faith was an important part of her upbringing.

Her decision also created a direct connection between her own final farewell and the funeral of the father who helped shape her early life.

Her funeral will be a private family service

Following Parton’s death on August 25, her representatives confirmed that her funeral would be a small, private gathering for immediate family, in accordance with her wishes.

Her nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, also revealed another unusual request Parton had made before her death.

Seaver said Parton wanted to be laid to rest in a “beautiful bed of plush cotton.”

He explained that after a lifetime of wearing heavy rhinestones, she deserved to be comfortable and have some rest.

Parton’s representatives also said the family was asking that, instead of sending flowers, mourners make donations to her Imagination Library.

Fans and friends around the world were also encouraged to leave messages or tag Parton on social media.

Music was woven through every part of her life

Parton’s choice of a funeral song was hardly surprising given how deeply music shaped her identity.

In the same 2014 interview, she discussed several songs that had marked different periods of her life.

One of the earliest songs she remembered becoming completely obsessed with was the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” released in 1964.

Parton was a teenager at the time and remembered hearing the song repeatedly on the radio.

She recalled riding around in an old car with an older friend and listening whenever the song came on.

“I couldn’t get enough of it,” Parton said, remembering how frequently radio stations played the Beatles after their arrival on the music scene.

The song that could always make her cry

Parton also had a clear answer when asked which song brought her to tears.

“‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ always makes me cry,” she said of George Jones’ 1980 country classic.

The song, about a man whose love endures until his death, had a particularly powerful emotional effect on her.

Parton said Jones had moved her “as much if not more than any other singer.”

Her own music could be just as emotional for her.

After her mother, Avie Lee Owens Parton, died in 2003, Parton said she struggled to perform “Coat of Many Colors” without crying.

“When my mom passed away, it was several months before I could really sing ‘Coat of Many Colors’ without cryin’,” she said.

The song had always been deeply personal to Parton because it drew on her childhood experiences growing up in a poor Tennessee family.

Another deeply personal song came from a family struggle

Parton also identified “Miss You-Miss Me,” from her 2014 album Blue Smoke, as another song that could bring her to tears.

The song was inspired by a difficult situation involving her niece, who was going through a divorce.

Parton said the child caught in the middle of the separation particularly affected her.

“She and her husband are not gettin’ along, and the little child is always torn between ‘em,” Parton explained. “I just felt for the child so much.”

The emotional subject matter, however, made Parton question whether the song would work well in her live shows.

She joked that audiences at casinos were unlikely to want to hear a song about children and spouses left behind while they were out drinking.

“I’d probably get my ass kicked out of the casino,” she said with her characteristic humor.

A final musical farewell chosen long ago

Parton spent her career turning personal experiences, family memories, heartbreak and faith into songs that connected with millions of people.

So it was fitting that when she was asked more than a decade before her death to imagine her own funeral, she did not choose one of her biggest commercial hits as the song she personally wanted.

Instead, she chose a hymn that belonged to her family.

“If We Never Meet Again” had already been part of her father’s funeral. Parton wanted it to accompany hers, too.

And while “I Will Always Love You” may inevitably be heard as the world remembers one of the most celebrated country artists of all time, the song she specifically requested carried a much more intimate meaning.

It was a song about saying goodbye—and believing that goodbye would not be forever.