Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer, revealed more than a decade ago which song she hoped would be part of her final farewell.
In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Parton was asked which song she would want played at her funeral.
Parton said she wanted the country-gospel hymn “If We Never Meet Again” to be sung. The song was a favorite of her father, Lee Parton, and had also been performed at his funeral following his death in 2000, she said.
Parton had also made plans for her funeral well before her death. Her representatives confirmed that the singer requested a small, private service for immediate family members.
Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, also shared that Parton wanted to be laid to rest in a “beautiful bed of plush cotton.”
But even after that final goodbye, Parton has another piece of music waiting for fans.
An unreleased song titled “My Place in History” remains locked inside a chestnut box at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Parton wrote and recorded the song in 2015, the year the resort opened, with instructions that the box remain sealed until Jan. 19, 2046, which would have marked her 100th birthday.
The recording is stored on a CD, and Parton even included a CD player inside the box to make sure people would still have a way to listen to it decades later. The unusual arrangement effectively turned the song into a musical time capsule.
In her 2020 book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, Parton joked about whether the technology would survive long enough for the plan to work.
“There’s no telling what music is going to be by then,” she wrote. “Hopefully, it will play and the whole thing ain’t rotted.”
Parton was 69 when she recorded “My Place in History” and initially entertained the possibility that she might be there when the box was opened.
“I might, and if I do, I’m going to be at that opening,” she wrote.
While fans will have to wait two decades to hear that recording, another of Parton’s final projects will move forward much sooner.
Dolly: A True Original Musical, the Broadway production based on Parton’s life and career, will proceed with its previously announced schedule following her death. The musical will begin previews Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York City before officially opening Jan. 19, 2027, which would have been Parton’s 81st birthday.
“As was Dolly’s wish, the Broadway run of DOLLY: A True Original Musical will begin previews December 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York City,” the production said in a statement.
