FRIENDSHIP THROUGH SONG
Parton and Rogers made some beautiful music together
About three years ago, Kenny Rogers sat for an interview and naturally, the conversation turned to his favourite memory of Dolly Parton, his longtime friend and singing partner.
He said it was in 2013 while they were recording their final duet together, You Can’t Make Old Friends. At one point, he looked up and saw Parton was no longer at her microphone. Suddenly, she appeared by his side, and put her arms around his neck. “Kenny, I think you should know,” she told him. “I could never sing at your funeral.”
Rogers laughed at the memory. “I went, ‘So we’re assuming I’m going first?’” He chuckled again. “But I love her for that. You never know what she’s going to say, but it always comes from love.”
The ballad includes the lines, “What will I do when you’re gone? Who’s gonna tell me the truth? … How will I sing when you’re gone? ’Cause it won’t sound the same.” Those lyrics became even more poignant recently, when Rogers died on March 20 at age 81.
Tributes poured in, and Parton posted an emotional video on social media. “I loved Kenny with all my heart, and my heart’s broken,” Parton said, choking up as she held a framed photo of the two of them. “I know you’re sad as I am. God bless you, Kenny.”
After the news of his death, his hit The Gambler rocketed up to No. 1 on the itunes charts. The No. 2 spot? Karaoke favourite Islands in the Stream, his iconic 1983 duet with Parton.
But as much as people have loved the musical collaborations between Rogers and Parton, there is also their nearly four-decade friendship.
It was a favourite topic in interviews, and they were constantly asked if they had ever been more than friends, even though they always said no. “We all want you to get together!” Gayle King told Rogers in 2013 on CBS This Morning.
“We’re both married. Why would you want us to get together?” Rogers replied.
What was most important, he said, was their friendship: “She’s one of those rare people that if she walked in the door and I hadn’t seen her in five years, it would be like we were together yesterday.”
They first crossed paths in Nashville, Tenn., in the early days of their careers, and he helped her when she headlined a 1970s television show.
“Kenny was a big star, and I couldn’t get any people on my show,” Parton told The Associated Press in 1990. “Kenny said ‘I’ll do it,’ and I’ll never forget it. He’s always been there for me as a friend.”
Nearly a decade later, Rogers was in the recording studio with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, who had just co-written Islands in the Stream and decided to give it to Rogers. After a few days trying to record, Rogers didn’t like how it sounded and was ready to give up. Gibb said, “You know what we need? We need Dolly Parton.”
By coincidence, Rogers told People magazine, Parton happened to be the same studio that day. His manager went to go find her. “She came marching into the room, and once she came in and started singing, the song was never the same. It took on a personality of its own,” Rogers said.
Islands in the Stream became a massive hit in 1983 and fuelled interest in them as a duo — they released a Christmas album and filmed a TV special and started touring together. “We didn’t plan it. People just put us together because they liked us together,” Parton said in 1986.
“We did that one song and out of that came years of concerts and friendship.”
They sang more duets through the years: Real Love in 1985 and Love is Strange in 1990. Rogers recorded the Parton solo-written Undercover in 2003. And finally, You Can’t Make Old Friends, nominated at the 2014 Grammy Awards for country duo/group performance. Even though they didn’t write it, they considered it autobiographical.
They clearly knew how meaningful their partnership was to fans — Parton also used her tribute video to comfort people about the world’s current nightmarish situation.
“I know that we all know Kenny’s in a better place than we are today. But I’m pretty sure he’s going to be talking to God sometime today if he’s ain’t already,” she said. “And he’s going to be asking him to spread some light onto this darkness going on here.”
The Washington Post