U2’s Bono Reveals Why He “Can’t Even Listen” to His Collaboration With Dolly Parton After Her Death

Bono got a special gift from Dolly Parton before her death. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the U2 frontman revealed that Parton’s last-ever recording appears on his band’s forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz, which is due out Nov. 13.

Bono told the outlet that he initially approached Parton to work with him on his yet-to-be-released side project, which is inspired by Irish folk music.

“She said, ‘That’s a little too Irish for me,’” Bono recalled of the late country legend.

Parton didn’t leave Bono empty-handed though.

“She said, ‘I got this song. It’s called “Torn,” and do you wanna see where you can take it somewhere else, maybe?’” he revealed.

Bono and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid rewrote the lyrics to be about a mother watching her family split apart.

“When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song. And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now,” Bono said. “She sang her heart out, and I cannot believe that’s an 80-year-old woman.”

As for how Parton felt about the end result, producer, Garret “Jacknife” Lee told the outlet that she “loved it.”

“She was so proud of her vocal and the recording. She was thrilled with it,” he said. “We were very nervous that she might not approve, or would be uncomfortable with it, but she loved it.”

Now that Parton has died, Bono noted that “it’s very moving to have had these intimacies with such a figure.”

“The fact that they’re not there now, in any way you can call back, other than through her songs, is very sobering,” he added.

Dolly Parton’s Other Posthumous Release

The news of Parton’s posthumous song, came weeks after another similar recording was announced.

Earlier this month, Alison Brown and Garry West revealed that they’d enlisted Parton to perform “Bound to Ride” on their Stanley Brothers tribute album, Where the Soul Never Dies: Celebrating 80 Years of The Stanley Brothers.

In that case, however, Parton recorded her portion of the project back in 2022, years before she fought her brief battle with cancer.

In addition to Parton, the album, which is due out Oct. 16, includes vocals from the likes of Billy Strings, Willie Nelson, Sierra Ferrell, and Steve Martin.

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