Dolly Parton Revealed the Song She Wanted Played at Her Funeral Years Before Her Death

Years before her death, Dolly Parton had already thought about the music she hoped her family would choose when it was time to say goodbye.

While she believed her signature ballad “I Will Always Love You” would inevitably be heard, there was another, far more personal song Parton specifically wanted performed at her funeral — an old country-gospel hymn that carried memories of her father and a message about being reunited with loved ones in heaven.

In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Parton revealed that the song was “If We Never Meet Again.”

“But there’s a song called ‘If We Never Meet Again,’” she said. “It’s an old country-gospel church song that talks about if we never meet again this side of heaven, I will meet you on that beautiful shore.”

Parton then recalled another line from the hymn: “Where the charming roses bloom forever and where separations come no more.”

The song carried a deeply personal connection to her father

Parton’s choice was rooted in her own family history.

“If We Never Meet Again” had been a favorite of her father, Lee Parton. When he died in November 2000, the family performed the hymn at his funeral.

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

More than a decade later, those words would take on even greater significance following Parton’s death at age 80 on August 25.

Her nephew Bryan Seaver announced her passing in an Instagram video, explaining that Parton herself had asked him years earlier to be the person who delivered the news when the time eventually came.

“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver said.

For more than two decades, Seaver had served as Parton’s head of security, following his father, Larry, in the position.

“I Will Always Love You” reminded Dolly of Whitney Houston’s funeral

Parton had also spoken about another song that she expected would become part of her own farewell: “I Will Always Love You.”

She originally wrote the song as she prepared to leave her professional partnership with Porter Wagoner. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston transformed it into a worldwide phenomenon with her recording for the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

Parton attended Houston’s funeral in 2012 and remembered the emotional moment when the song began playing.

“I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die, just like they did with Whitney Houston,” Parton said in 2014.

She recalled watching as Houston’s coffin was lifted and hearing the familiar song begin.

“I started to cry, and I thought, ‘Oh my Lord.’ That’s when it hit me that she was really gone.”

For Parton, hearing a song she had written accompany Houston’s final farewell gave the composition another deeply emotional meaning.

Bryan Seaver reflects on Dolly’s extraordinary legacy

When announcing his aunt’s death, Seaver remembered Parton not simply as a member of his family, but as someone whose influence stretched far beyond country music.

“Dolly opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent,” he said.

He also spoke of his belief that Parton had been reunited with those she had lost, including her husband, Carl Dean, who died in March 2025.

“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens,” Seaver said.

Those words closely echoed the message behind the gospel song Parton had chosen for her own funeral decades earlier — separation on Earth followed by reunion beyond it.

Dolly continued making plans despite her health struggles

Following Dean’s death, Parton spoke publicly about her grief and acknowledged that she had neglected some of her own health concerns while caring for her husband.

In an August 21 interview with PEOPLE, just days before her death, she said she was still dealing with those issues.

“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she said.

Despite those difficulties, Parton remained determined to continue working.

“Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’!” she said. “I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.”

That determination had followed Parton throughout a career stretching back to her 1967 debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. She went on to create enduring songs including “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You,” while expanding her career into film, television, business and philanthropy.

She wanted her work to continue after she was gone

Parton had long understood that she might not have enough time to accomplish every idea she imagined.

“I just hope I live long enough to do more things,” she previously told PEOPLE. “That’s the only thing that worries me, that I may run out of time before I see so many of my dreams come true.”

But she had also prepared for that possibility.

“I wake up with new dreams all the time,” she said. “But I put them in a place where they can continue, even after I’m gone.”

That same sense of continuity could be found in the song she wanted at her funeral.

For a woman whose life produced countless songs heard around the world, Parton’s personal choice for her final farewell was rooted not in one of her own enormous hits, but in a hymn her family had already used to say goodbye to her father — one built around the hope that separation would not last forever.