Ten Pop Songs That Make Me Cringe: Time to Cause Controversy (#3)

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It's time to post another one of those pop songs that make me reach for the air sickness bag, even when I'm perfectly still. Today's entry is a little different: it's not the song that makes me want to gouge my ears with an ice pick, it's the version. And, as this is a massively popular song by a massively popular artist, I'll echo what @Dena91 says in her countdown: this is personal taste, and I'm not knocking you if this is one of your favorite songs. So, grab those clubs and rocks and get ready. #3: I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston When Whitney Houston died every single news story showed a clip of her going, "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllways love you." I didn't watch the news for a week out of fear of having to see it. What makes her version of this song so annoying to me is that I grew up with the original. In 1973 Dolly Parton broke up professionally and romantically with Porter Wagoner. It wasn't pretty, either: there were lawsuits, and Dolly and Porter didn't see each other again until he celebrated his 40th year on the Grand Ole Opry in 1995. (And even then the wounds were a little raw: Dolly, although a member of the Grand Ole Opry, avoided playing the show unless Porter was not there.) So when they split Dolly wrote this song about Porter. It's deeply personal, which could be part of what I don't like about someone else doing it. It's like hearing someone do her "Coat of Many Colors" (a very autobiographical song), or Bonnie Raitt covering Jackson Browne's "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate." Some songs were meant to be sung by the person who lived them, and nobody else. And, of course, Whitney Houston's vocal gymnastics always grated on my nerves. The only song of hers I really like is an early one, "How Will I Know," before she started overdramatizing every syllable. So when she recorded Dolly's personal pain for the film The Bodyguard she sang it like a bad Shakespearean actor trying to take the Hamlet soliloquy and turn it into a four-hour marathon. And, as usual, I'm in the minority here. Whitney's version was number one for sixty bazillion weeks (14, actually) and sold about five million copies in the US alone. Sorry. Give me that plain, painful original where Dolly poured her heart out about her love for Porter. I Will Always Love You Written by Dolly Parton Recorded by Whitney Houston From The Bodyguard, 1992 Dolly singing the song about Porter to Porter shortly before she left the show: