Elvis Presley wed only once, tying the knot with Priscilla Presley from 1967 to 1973, who became the mother of his sole child, Lisa Marie.
Following their separation in 1972, the pair maintained a friendly divorce, which was finalized the following year.
Remarkably, the King even performed a beloved romantic ballad for Priscilla as they exited the divorce courthouse.
The tune Elvis crooned to his soon-to-be ex-wife was “I Will Always Love You,” the classic hit by Dolly Parton.
The words appeared quite fitting for their circumstances, as a pair parting ways while pledging to maintain their love for one another, according to the Express.
The opening lines declare: “If I should stay/I would only be in your way/And so I’ll go, but I know/I’ll think of you each step of the way. And I will always love you/I will always love you.”
In a previous piece for The Big Issue’s Letter To My Younger Self, Dolly herself revealed: “Priscilla told me later that he sang that song to her when they were coming down the steps of the courthouse after they divorced. That really touched me.”
This moment held special significance for the Country star, harking back to when she declined Elvis’ request to perform I Will Always Love You years earlier; a track The King never got to record.
Dolly explained how Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, made quite a stipulation for the song.
In a past interview on Living and Learning with Reba McEntire, Dolly revealed: “It didn’t have anything to do with Elvis. I loved Elvis. It was Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, who was brilliant. You can’t take that way from people. He did all right by him.”
However, the country music sensation was hesitant to part with her own song so easily. She stated, “But I already had a No. 1 song, I Will Always Love You. That was the most important copyright I had in my publishing company. So I was so excited, I told everybody. They had called me to say that Elvis was recording it, and if I wanted to come to the studio. Elvis wanted to meet me and all that.”
That evening, before the session, Colonel Tom Parker called her. Elvis’ manager told Dolly: “You know, we don’t record anything with Elvis unless we have the publishing, or at least half the publishing.”
Dolly responded: “Well, that throws a new light on this because I can’t give you half the publishing. I’m gonna leave that to my family. I can’t do that.”
Consequently, the Colonel informed her that Elvis couldn’t cover the track under those conditions.
She confessed: “I cried all night. Oh, I just pictured Elvis, like, singing it. And I know that Elvis loved it. And I know it wasn’t him, but it’s true. I said no.”
Nonetheless, it proved to be a wise decision as she claims she made enough money from Houston’s cover, which became one of the best-selling singles of all time, that she could have purchased Graceland.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
