In Living in a Media World, I talk about how rock ‘n’ roll got started by bringing together white hillbilly (or country) music and and black rhythm & blues. I was reminded of that this weekend with the sad news about the death of R&B and pop superstar Whitney Houston. One of her big hits was “I’ll Always Love You” from her movie The Bodyguard. But what you may not know is that Whitney’s version was a cover of a country song. “I’ll Always Love You” is a Dolly Parton original that she added to the movie version of the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. And while I generally don’t approve of new songs being added to movie versions of Broadway musicals, I’ll make an exception in this case. Here’s both Miss Dolly and Miss Whitney’s version of this great song:
Dolly Parton – Live 2002
Whitney Houston – 1999
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