Dolly Parton’s life revolved around music, so it should come as no surprise that she had picked the piece she wanted to hear when she was laid to rest, more than a decade before her demise.
“There’s a song called If We Never Meet Again (This Side Of Heaven),” the singer and philanthropist said in a 2014 interview. “That was my daddy’s favorite. We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine.”
While the choice was deeply personal, rooted in a memory of her father, it also carried a much broader meaning.
Having found a place among people of different races, regions and religions, the hymn reflected the unifying legacy Parton built both through her creations and conduct.
Dolly Parton’s funeral song captures the warmth and togetherness she represented
Written in 1945 by Southern songwriter Albert E. Brumley, If We Never Meet Again carries a simple message at its heart: Even when life takes people in different directions, there is hope of meeting again beyond this world.
That sentiment gave the hymn an appeal that reached far beyond any single community, and it went on to become a familiar piece in both white churches and Black gospel congregations.
For Parton, the hymn was an especially fitting choice.
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The Tennessee-born country music icon built a career that crossed boundaries of class, gender, geography and politics, earning affection from people who did not necessarily share the same beliefs or backgrounds.
It reflected the kind of connection she had fostered throughout her life—one capable of bringing people together through music, compassion and shared humanity.
Parton was laid to rest during a private service attended by immediate family on Friday, August 28, according to an Instagram post by her great-niece, Lainey.
Parton revealed several favorites in the interview where she picked her funeral song
Nashville Songwriters Foundation
Two other songs played a significant role in Parton’s life, according to her 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
One of them was the Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand, which she cited as the first song she got obsessed with as a teenager.
“I love all kinds of songs, and I grew up singing all sorts of songs, but the first time I ever remember totally being jarred and feeling all kinds of emotions was when that song came out,” Parton said.
“I couldn’t get enough of it. This girlfriend of ours had an old trap car, so we used to ride around [in it]. I just remember us hearing that on the radio any time we had a chance.”
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The second was He Stopped Loving Her Today, the 1980 George Jones ballad about a man whose love endures until his final breath.
Parton said the song always made her cry.
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Among the other tracks she cherished was her own Coat of Many Colors, dedicated to her mother, Avie Lee Owens Parton, who departed in 2003.
She also spoke about Miss You-Miss Me, from her 2014 album Blue Smoke, which she wrote after watching a friend go through a divorce while her child was caught in the middle.
“I just felt for the child so much,” she said.
Parton’s love for music lives on with a surprise song due in 20 years
Parton recorded a song titled My Place In History in 2015 and locked it away in a chestnut box kept at her resort, Dollywood DreamMore, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
The recording is scheduled for release on the occasion of her 100th birthday on January 19, 2046.
The box reportedly contains a CD recording and playback equipment to ensure future audiences have the means to hear it.
A cassette version was also included, making the package a carefully preserved snapshot of the technology and music surrounding Parton at the time of the recording.
Parton opened up about the unreleased track in her book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.
“I don’t know if I want to live to be 100 or not. But you never know. I might, and if I do, I’m going to be at that opening. There’s no telling what music is going to be by then,” she wrote.
Elsewhere, the legend expressed concern that the recording might deteriorate before the box could be opened.
Parton battled cancer before her demise
Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver shared news of her passing at age 80 in a video message uploaded to her Instagram.
According to him, the singer breathed her last surrounded by her family and had requested to be buried in cotton after years of wearing rhinestones.
Details about her medical complication arrived in a separate statement.
“After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center,” her estate said in a statement.
Her younger sister, Stella, later said that Parton remained “thinking of others” even in her final moments.
She revealed that Parton had agreed to undergo experimental cancer treatments in the hope that they could help others in the future.
“She loved everyone and everyone loved her,” a netizen said about Parton
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